Tottenham v Aston Villa Betting 071012

Tottenham v Aston Villa Betting Preview

This game promises to be an exciting encounter. Tottenham are hitting a run of good form and look more than capable of scoring goals, whilst Aston Villa couldn’t build on their win at City in the cup and come into this game on the back of a lucky point against WBA. Get free bets for this match here.

Andre Villa Boas will be extremely happy with Tottenham’s current run of form. The ex Chelsea manager started his career at Tottenham in a similar fashion to the way he did at Chelsea – underperforming. However, unlike at Chelsea, the manager has had no pressure from the Spurs’ fans and has been given reassurance that he has time to rebuild a potentially brilliant Tottenham side. After successive away wins at Reading and Manchester United it is clear that AVB has got Tottenham playing the way he wants and most importantly, scoring goals.

Tottenham look very comfortable and dangerous going forward and will cause any team problems. Not many teams go to Old Trafford and score three goals, but Tottenham did so, and in a clinical fashion. The new passing style that AVB has brought in has allowed Tottenham to break teams down by opening up spaces on the pitch and releasing their fast outlets in Bale, Lennon and Defoe. With an impressive offensive force and tricky wingers it is difficult to see Tottenham not scoring lots of goals this season. However, it is still clear that Tottenham still struggle defensively and find it difficult to keep clean sheets evident by the lack of one to date this season. Therefore it is likely that most of Tottenham’s games will have lots of goals in this season and Spurs may be forced to adopt a ‘we can out score you’ philosophy.

Aston Villa played well against high flying West Brom last weekend at Villa Park, coming from behind to take a point in a 1-1 draw. Aston villa had looked the most dangerous but were unable to break down a resilient West Brom, as was predicted in last week’s betting preview.

Paul Lambert faces a difficult decision when choosing his starting line up against Tottenham this weekend. He can either play two up top or revert back to a more defensive 4-5-1 shape to bolster up his defence to counter a free-scoring Tottenham side. As Aston Villa are most dangerous when playing on the counter attack, it would seem wise to play 4-5-1 with two fast players on the wing. English forward Darren Bent may earn the right to play as the lone striker after coming off to bench to grab a vital last equaliser against WBA. He is a proven goal poacher with a fantastic scoring record and the ex Tottenham player will relish the opportunity to score against his old club.

Last three league matches:

Manchester United 2-3 Tottenham                       Aston Villa 1-1 West Brom

Tottenham 2-1 QPR                                                  Southampton 4-1 Aston Villa

Reading 1-3 Tottenham                                            Aston Villa 2-0 Swansea

H2H:

Aston Villa 1-1 Tottenham    Tottenham 2-0 Aston Villa     Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham

Prediction:

As mentioned early it is clear that Tottenham’s games will have lots of goals in this season as they boast a quite brilliant attacking force, but in doing so, sacrifice stability in defence and leak goals. Villa on the other hand find it very difficult to break teams down as they lack the creative spark needed to open up the tough defences in the top flight of English football. Therefore, it looks most likely that Tottenham will win, and this is reflected in the odds as they are 2/5 with most bookmakers. Because of this, I have looked at a more risky bet offering more value: Tottenham -1 at 11/10. This means that Aston Villa start with a goal advantage and for the bet to win Tottenham must win by two clear goals.

Highlighted Bets:

1)      Tottenham are a very attractive team to watch as they can score lots of goals. However, they are also prone to conceding, having done so in every league game this season.  An obvious bet in this game is over 2.5 goals at 8/13. This doesn’t represent brilliant value but it is a bet that is likely to win if the form of the two teams continues.

2)      Jan Vertonghen has made an impressive start to his Tottenham career after his summer move from Ajax. The Belgian centre back has scored in his last two appearances; away at Carlisle in the cup and the crucial opener in the 3-2 victory over United. The tall defender scored 23 goals in his time at Ajax and looks more than capable of continuing his scoring run in the Premier League. Vertonghen is 5/1 to score anytime against Villa. This offers great value as Tottenham are likely to win numerous corners allowing Vertonghen to get forward from his left back position and cause problems with his height and aerial ability.

3)      This is a tough match to pick the correct score so small stakes is advisable. Both teams are unpredictable and the toss of a coin seems to decide whether they put in a fantastic or disappointing performance. Having said that, Tottenham to win 3-1 looks fantastic value at 12/1 as they are more than capable of scoring three for the third Premier League match in a row and with the danger of Darren Bent look unlikely keep their first clean sheet of the season.

       Recap:

• Tottenham -1 goal handicap @ 11/10
• Over 2.5 goals @ 8/13
• Vertonghen to score anytime @ 5/1
• Tottenham to win 3-1 @ 12/1

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