WE correctly called Both Teams To Score in the reverse fixture at White Hart Lane so can Mark O’Haire (@MarkOHaire) find a winning angle for Thursday’s meeting in Greece?
Asteras Tripolis v Tottenham Hotspur | Thursday 18.00 | ITV 4
Harry Kane hit a hat-trick at White Hart Lane to help Spurs ease to a 5-1 win over Asteras in London last time out in the Europa League. But there’s plenty of reason to believe Thursday’s visit to Greece won’t be quite so comfortable.
Tottenham had opened with successive draws before that victory and now Mauricio Pochettino’s men top the group with three games to play, leading Besiktas on goal difference. And the Argentine is again likely to rest and rotate his squad for the Group C showdown.
That’s just one reason why I’m steering well clear of Spurs at a best-price of 4/5 (Coral) but recent form is also quite off-putting. The Londoners have won just five of their last 13 fixtures with two of those victories coming at home to Championship sides in the Capital One Cup.
On first glance, their away record appears fairly positive. This season they’ve W3-D3-L1 on the road but if we look a little further back, Spurs have W7-D6-L7 away in this calendar year. Again, this may appear relatively decent but my angle is to oppose Tottenham and what I see here is, the Lilywhites failing to win 4/7 (57%) on their travels this season and winless in 13/20 (65%) away games in 2014.
Asteras are available to back at 21/20 with Bet365 in the Double Chance market – this means we’ll be paid out should the hosts avoid defeat at the Theodoros Kolokotronis Stadium. And yes, no side has come away from Tripoli with a win this season.
In fact, the Greeks have W7-D1-LO in front of their home fans in 2014/15 with domestic champions Olympiakos only managing a 0-0 draw in their visit last weekend. What’s more, they’ve W19-D10-L3 on home soil since the start of last season and their 5-1 thrashing at White Hart Lane is their only loss in their last 11 matches.
It’s Asteras’ first ever group-stage campaign, having crashed out in the qualifiers in each of the past two seasons and they’ll be working overtime to ensure they’ve a chance of progression. It’s a fairytale story for a side that were in the third-tier as recently as 2006 but shouldn’t be written off with wily coach Staikos Vergetis in charge.
Best Bets
Asteras Tripolis v Tottenham Hotspur – Asteras Tripolis double chance (21/20 Bet365)
