TOTTENHAM travel to Wycombe for Monday night's FA Cup showdown. James Cantrill (@JimmyThePunt) shares his thoughts on the fixture.
Wycombe vs Tottenham | Monday 25th January 2021, 19:45 | BT Sport
The final action of the FA Cup fourth round takes place at Adams Park as Wycombe welcome Tottenham this evening. Although Chorley, Blackpool, Plymouth and Cheltenham all went close, the last chance of an upset falls to the Chairboys and Gareth Ainsworth’s men have every chance with Wycombe’s supremo expected to name a full strength squad.
Jose Mourinho is one man who relishes the opportunity to crush the hope of lowly opposition. This is precisely what he did in the last round as his much-changed Spurs side thrashed minnows Marine 5-0. However, for a man who takes the UK’s domestic cup competitions so seriously, he has been bested by lower league opposition on way too many occasions as David has toppled Goliath four times under his supervision.
The last time these sides met, our hosts went toe to toe with Spurs in a seven goal thriller at Wembley four years ago. That game also featured seven cards and with two masters of the dark arts at the helm of both clubs you can expect an equally fractious affair tonight.
Although Wycombe have only averaged 1.47 yellow cards per game domestically this season, their last five games has seen them accumulate over 1.5 cards on every occasion. It is also worth noting that in their League Cup game vs Brentford they had a man sent off and in the last round of this competition, three of their players were booked.
Therefore, Bet365’s price of 6/5 for Wycombe to receive over 1.5 cards takes appeal. Using the same bookmakers ‘Bet Builder’ you can also combine both teams to receive over 1.5 cards at odds of 15/2. Given the importance placed on this Cup by Jose Mourinho, his side will be fired up for this clash and with his fringe players keen to make an impression cards could flow tonight.
However, I do not expect goals to flow in a similar fashion to how they did when the sides last met. Excluding their Europa League games, 74% of Tottenham’s victory’s this season have featured fewer than four goals. Likewise, 86% of Wycombe’s defeats have seen fewer than four goals.
Spurs to win and the game to feature under four goals in 11/8 with Bet365, you can also combine that with Wycombe to have over 1.5 cards at odds of 4/1.
Assuming Wycombe adopt the approach synonymous with FA Cup ties of this nature, you would expect them to try and keep it tight and stay in the game for as long as possible. This, combined with the fact that Jose simply must prevail if he is going to stand any chance of securing some silverware this season points to the likelihood of this being a cagey affair.
Obviously this bodes well for both selections and with the quality at the visitors disposal, they should have enough to see themselves go through to the next round.
Best Bets
Wycombe vs Tottenham – Wycombe Over 1.5 Cards (6/5 Bet365)
Wycombe vs Tottenham -Both Sides Over 1.5 Cards (15/2 Bet365)
Wycombe vs Tottenham – Tottenham to Win and Under 4 Goals (11/8 Bet365)
Wycombe vs Tottenham – Tottenham to Win, Under 4 Goals and Over 1.5 Wycombe Cards (4/1 Bet365)
