The first of our featured English Premier League matches taking place on New Years Day sees Spurs visit Southampton.
Southampton
Southampton are having a good Christmas with 7 points taken from their last 3 matches. On 21st December they won 3-1 at Aston Villa and on Boxing Day they upset Chelsea with a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge. Last time out they played out a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace and its home form that is the main concern. Although Southampton now have 4 points worth of daylight over the bottom 3 they have managed only 8 points from 10 home games and Liverpool (2-1), Chelsea (4-1) and Leicester (9-0) are among the sides to have won at St Mary's whilst Manchester United's visit ended all square at 1-1.
Spurs
Spurs have had a mixed festive period so far but they remain on the heels of a top 4 place. They went into Christmas on the back of a 2-0 home defeat to Chelsea before returning to winning ways on Boxing Day with a 2-1 home victory over Brighton. Last time out Spurs let favourites backers down when they played out a 2-2 draw at Norwich. Jose Mourinho has been in charge of 8 league games which have delivered 5 wins, 2 defeats and 1 draw. The trend has been for goals with Spurs yet to keep a clean sheet in that sequence during which backers of over 2.5 goals have collected 7 times.
Recent Head to Head
Spurs won the first meeting this season 2-1 although they had to work hard with Aurier red carded on the half hour mark when the game was all square at 1-1.
In last season's meeting at St. Mary's Southampton came through with a 2-1 win and the last 8 head to heads have seen both sides find the net with over 2.5 goals arriving 7 times.
The Betting
Southampton can be backed at around 23/10 with the draw trading at 57/20 and Spurs are favourites at a shade over even money.
Over 2.5 total match goals is priced at 6/10 with over 3.5 goals 15/10 and both teams to score? (yes) is 11/20
Verdict:
The sheer volume of games in a short space of time has to be a factor which makes the team news worth following but the evidence suggests this game looks booked for goals. I'll go with the trend of both teams finding the net in a game of at least 3 goals in total.
Bet: Both teams to score and over 2.5 total match goals at 17/20
Note, all odds quoted are subject to change.
