THE second live match on Sunday sees Spurs host Man City. How does Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79) see it?
Tottenham v Man City| Sunday 16:00 | Sky Sports 1
Over the last few days Man City have been pushed out in price a little to best odds of 6/5, but if you want to play at that price go ahead. I certainly won't be.
The prospect of backing Man City at cramped odds against a Top 6 side holds no appeal whatsoever. Manuel Pellegrini's side have had an awful 2015 where they've meekly sacrificed their title and crashed out the Champions League with a whimper.
Since FA Cup 3rd Round weekend they've played 17 matches and won just six of them. Disconcertingly eight of them were defeats too. Of those six wins the highest ranked side were West Ham (who themselves have had a miserable 2015) so that's hardly a great advert for their form.
Spurs have an awful record against Man City and have conceded 15 goals against them in their last three encounters. There's definitely a bogey-team vibe about Man City when it comes to Spurs with seven defeats out of their last eight matches overall.
Tottenham's Champions League assault was dealt a fatal blow in mid-March when they were crushed 3-0 by rivals Manchester United. In many ways, they've never really recovered from that. Losing to Aston Villa and dropping points to Burnley since then has left them seven points adrift of the Top 4 at this late juncture.
If you draw a line under that home defeat to Aston Villa last month, Spurs have been superb at White Hart Lane this season. Between 30th November and 21st March they went unbeaten in 10 league games with Chelsea and Arsenal amongst their victims.
This is a quandary of a betting heat for me as I think Man City are too short but don't trust Spurs enough to invest in them. Backing the London club to avoid defeat is best price 4/5 with BetVictor but do I really want to play at odds on?
At 14/5 the draw simply has to be my bet here. Is it a confident selection? Not at all. Stakes will be small. Is it a value one? I certainly think so at near 3/1 when you assess both sides.
Best Bets
Tottenham v Man City – Draw (14/5 Skybet)