Tottenham v Everton
Saturday 29th August – Kickoff: 1730hrs
Football – England – Premier League
If there was one word to describe Tottenham’s start to the new season it would be ‘underwhelming’. Or possibly ‘frustrating’. Maybe even ‘predictable’. Whichever way you look at it, it has been anything but good. A lack of serious transfer activity over the close season meant that a slow start to the campaign was always going to bring about some criticism from the club’s supporters, amongst others. The performance at Old Trafford on the opening day of the season was a decent one, but they lacked the cutting edge that many have picked out as being an area that needs improving for a long time. In their two games since then, taking the lead (two up at home to Stoke, 1-0 away to Leicester) and only coming away with two points will only have added to the growing calls to dip into the transfer market in an effort to strengthen not only the squad, but the starting eleven.
Everton have certainly had one of the more difficult starts to the season having had to face there of last season’s top seven teams, and one of the newly promoted clubs. The Toffees come into the match at White Hart Lane with four points from their first three which is decent enough. Although they failed to pick up any points at home to Manchester City last Sunday, Roberto Martinez will take a lot of positives from the performance. It was a game where the first goal was always going to be decisive the longer the game went on and City’s extra quality proved to be the difference. Unlike Spurs, Everton competed in the League Cup during the week, participating in an excellent advert of the competition as they eventually ran out 5-3 winner away to League One Barnsley. Martinez fielded a strong starting eleven on the night and has more than able reinforcements to come off the bench when their lower league opponents threatened an upset taking 2-0 and 3-2 leads. It was another indication that Everton have got that desire and hunger back, this season.
Spurs missed out on Champions League qualification last season, falling quite a bit short of Manchester United in the end-up. For the club’s supporters, however, it is somewhat concerning to think how far they would have been behind the top four if it was not for Harry Kane. Bearing in mind the young Englishman was not considered good enough at the beginning of last season, it was quite a turnaround as he netted 21 goals in the league and made his way into the England squad. Consistency is the key in this league (or any level of football for that matter) and his second season leading the line was bound to prove more challenging. He has yet to score in any of his club’s first three league games but that is possibly more of an indictment on the players around him. Opposition managers are bound to combat the threat of Kane more which should, in theory, free up space for Spurs’ other attackers. None of them have yet shown they are capable of influencing games as Kane did last season.
One of the summer’s longest-running transfer sagas has been the will he or won’t he story surrounding Everton’s John Stones. The young England cap has been consistently linked with Chelsea, who have submitted several bids for the player. It led to Stones handing in a transfer request at the beginning of this week, which many thought would pave his way to London. It may well, but Everton have thus far resisted the temptation to cash in on the player and rejected Stones’ request. The defender played in the win away to Barnsley and will almost certainly take his place in the centre of their defence on Saturday evening. With the transfer window closing early next week, it will come to some sort of conclusions, but that’s plenty of time for there to be some more moves and counter-moves, but I think everybody will be glad to focus on the football once again.
This is one of the original Premier League fixtures and neither team have been relegated from the top division. Tottenham – who were drawn in a difficult Europa League group containing Monaco, Anderlecht and Qarabag – are of course looking for their first win this season. It certainly will not be easy against an Everton team who looked far more like the outfit that finished fifth in 2014, as opposed to the one that limped to an 11th placed finish last term.
Tottenham v Everton Betting Tips
One of the main concerns for Mauricio Pochettino is his side’s inability to finish teams off when seemingly well on top. Whether that is a mentality that needs to be changed, or simply lacking the necessary firepower to get results at this level, remains to be seen. The visit of Everton will be another test, particularly in defence as the Toffees look rejuvenated in attack with Romelu Lukaku back his best and Ross Barkley showing the kind of form of 18 months ago, and the confidence that goes along with that.
If the home side are to get their first win of 2015/16 then you would assume Harry Kane will be their biggest asset to achieve that. The striker scored the only goal of the game when these two met at Goodison on the final day of last season, and he would love to get his mini-goal drought out the way by scoring against the same opponent on Saturday.
Although it was in the cup and against a League One side, Everton’s performance on Wednesday illustrated that Martinez has gone back to basics in an attempt to improve on last season. They appear more direct in their approach and getting the ball to Lukaku, often via Barkley, is one of the main components of that. It is a combination which is likely to bring a lot of goals this season but equally, there limitations in defence were exposed countless times. Spurs do not look settled in defence themselves, and that should result in an open and entertaining game at White Hart Lane. Although it’s not quite desperation, the home team will not want to go four games without a win (particularly as there is a break for international fixtures next weekend) so are bound to be adventurous. It is a match which could easily go either way but one I strongly suspect will contain a few goals.
Over 2.5 goals 17/20 @ BetVictor
