Tottenham host Leeds United in Monday Night Football this evening as Roberto De Zerbi’s side look to take a huge step towards Premier League survival (8pm, Sky Sports Main Event). West Ham’s loss to Arsenal on Sunday means the battle for the final relegation spot stays between Spurs and the Hammers, but De Zerbi’s men can go four points clear of their closest rivals with two games to go if they manage a win this evening.
The victory over a second-string Aston Villa last week provided a huge boost for Spurs and may well prove to be the key result that keeps them up, with the Lilywhites now priced at 9/2 to go down and betting sites slashing West Ham’s relegation odds to as short as 1/7 after their dramatic loss to the Gunners. Elsewhere, that win for Arsenal yesterday means Leeds are now guaranteed to stay up and, with Daniel Farke’s side playing with no pressure and plenty of freedom, it could either be a far easier or much tougher game than usual for the hosts tonight.
As it goes, Spurs are heavy favourites with most football betting sites as they fight to preserve their top-flight status, with Tottenham priced around 4/5 for the win versus odds as high as 16/5 for a Leeds victory. Tottenham and West Ham are separated by just a point going into tonight’s game, though Spurs can go four above the Hammers by clinching a potentially vital win this evening.
Spurs’ win over Villa was their second league victory since the start of February, though they’ve now won two on the trot after beating Wolves at the end of April. However, they had conceded at least one goal in each of their last 12 games before that Wolves win, last keeping a clean sheet against Frankfurt at the end of January and conceding 29 times in that period. As for Leeds, they come into this match in decent form having won three of their last five league games, though they have kept just two clean sheets in their last 10 matches in all competitions, while scoring 15 in that time.
With the pressure off they may start to play even better. However, at the same time it is hard to see Spurs not putting in a decent performance as they fight for survival, and this game might be the one that shows whether or not De Zerbi has managed to truly improve his failing side. With that in mind – as well as both teams’ penchant for leaking goals – we think a wager on Spurs to win and both teams to score is a sensible bet.
Tottenham forward Richarlison appears to be one of those players who has immediately benefitted from the change in manager, with the Brazilian getting the assist for the winner against Wolves and then scoring the eventual winner himself last time out against Villa. The 29-year-old has just 10 goals for Spurs this season from 29 games, but he played his first full 90 since March last week and has been tasked with carrying the side’s goalscoring burden due to the injury to Dominic Solanke. After some time out with a hamstring injury at the start of the year, Richarlison has now scored three goals in his last seven games, and is 11/10 to score at any time on some betting apps.
