MAN CITY travel to Tottenham in Saturday's Premier League highlight. Tom Love (@TomLove_18) shares his betting thoughts.
Tottenham vs Manchester City | Saturday 21st November 2020, 17:30 | Sky Sports
It’s Jose vs Pep on Saturday evening which always makes for an intriguing tactical battle between two of the biggest names of the past decade.
Few would’ve expected Spurs to be five points clear of Manchester City at this point of the season. Tottenham have looked much improved and adapted to playing Europa League and Premier League in tandem, a deeper squad this season and less on the injury table has aided Jose.
I’m not going to jump on the Spurs as title challengers anytime soon though – they’ve had one of the easiest run-ins of any side. They’ve yet to play City, Liverpool, Leicester, Chelsea, Wolves and Arsenal so I’ll judge them in the New Year.
Pep is nearing a fully fit squad again which may make their odds-on quotes more understandable. Sergio Aguero could make the squad, as could Fernandinho whilst Raheem Sterling and Nathan Ake should shake off knocks from the internationals. Spurs should also be near to a full-strength team with just Matt Doherty definitely ruled out for COVID related issues.
I can understand why some punters will be drawn in by the 16/5 quotes about a home win here but I’m more than happy to leave the outrights alone, I would have it squeezed ever so slightly with Spurs around 3/1 and City even-money. Instead I’ll jump into the Betb Bilder market with BetVictor and look to oppose a high goal line and get a few cards on side too.
We can get a lovely looking 13/8 on Under 4 Goals and Each Side to collect Over 0.5 Cards but Under 3.5 Cards, and that appeals.
Surprisingly, City have seen their last five league games all go Under 2.5 Goals, mainly down to their strong defensive efforts. It’s gone under the radar slightly how improved Pep has got his defence performing, they’ve shipped just four goals in their last nine games in all competitions. They have struggled going the other way slightly though, especially teams that sit in a low block, look to contain and counter.
That’s likely to be Mourinho’s gameplan here I think, he will try go back to front quickly with Harry Kane and Heung Min-Son looking to link up swiftly.
Mike Dean has the whistle here, always a joy to see when you want to get involved with cards. Having said that, since crowds have gone old Deano hasn’t played up as much as we might expect with just 18 cards in his six games this season.
With the players on the pitch I do expect both sides to pick up a card but can’t see either racking up a load. These have collected just seven and eight cards in the league respectively this season. Also, a red card with BetVictor only counts as one card compared to it counting as two which is the case with most other firms.
Best Bets
Tottenham vs Manchester City – Under 4 Goals, Each Team Over 0 Cards and Each Team Under 4 Cards (13/8 BetVictor)
