Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal Betting Odds, Preview & Tips – 02.10.11

Spurs favourites in North London derby

Premier League Betting

Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal Betting Tip & Odds: Two good Goalscorer options here will be Rafael van der Vaart, who has three goals in two matches against Arsenal, and of course Emmanuel Adebayor, who have eight North London derby matches under his belt (six of them in the Premier League). Of course he is on the other side of the fence now, but has everything necessary to bully his way through a very shaky Arsenal defence. There will be more of an offensive threat from Tottenham, and because Arsenal have holes all over the pitch at the moment, would seriously consider either of these two to get on the score sheet first. Van der Vaart First Goalscorer for 7/1 at Paddy Power (see promotion below).

Tottenham Hotspur to win: 6/5 at Boylesports
Draw: 5/2 at SkyBet
Arsenal to win: 13/5 at Victor Chandler

EPL Match Preview: This first North London derby of the season has the extra spice coming to it, with former Gunners striker Emmanuel Adebayor now wearing a Tottenham shirt. Adebayor netted eight times for Arsenal against Tottenham in nine derby matches, so now he has to start balancing that out for his new club. Tottenham have picked up some strong recent form in the league, while Arsenal are still trying to find their feet and the most consistent thing they are showing is inconsistency. With it being a North London derby, passions are going to be running high and there is never a shortage of action, controversy and some meaty tackles flying around. While draws between these two at White Hart Lane have become quite common recently, there has only been one 0-0 draw between them in the last 30 or so matches now, so we can at least expect some goals.

Tottenham Hotspur Form: Spurs will start the match two points in the ascendancy over their north London rivals Arsenal on Sunday. Tottenham, because of a delayed start to their season, also hold a game in hand over the Gunners. After a tough start to the season, with back to back defeats against Manchester United and Manchester City, Harry Redknapp’s side have responded well with three wins on the bounce. Their most impressive victory was a 4-0 thumping of Liverpool at White Hart Lane recently, and they will go the Emirates in pretty good spirits and full of confidence. There should be plenty of passion here and Spurs will probably have the more settled side out of the two combatants here. Spurs were involved in the Europa League in the week, but Redknapp sent out a reserve side against Shamrock Rovers, and so all of the main squad will be back to face the Gunners. Tottenham will be without Michael Dawson and William Gallas at the back, and Tom Huddlestone still is sitting on the sidelines. Still, what Spurs do have is probably a more threatening midfield than what Arsenal can put out at the moment and you can see a big threat coming from their speed and invention with the likes of Luka Modric and Gareth Bale in the side. If they throw Aaron Lennon in as well, you can see all sorts of problems for a troubled Arsenal back line. So, with just two home games under their belt, they have won one and lost one this season, scoring five and conceding five. That is just one clean sheet out of the two as well, but both matches have ended over 2.5 goals if you are looking in that market. The bulk of Tottenham’s league goals this season have come in the 61-75 minute bracket. Spurs have scored first in 60% of their matches so far this season. Top scorer is Emmanuel Adebayor with three goals so far, and it will be interesting to watch him for the first time in action against his former employees, Arsenal. So, with three wins on the bounce, Tottenham are in good form, and look as if they are going to carry a threat, and challenge for a good top six finish again this season. There may be a bit of work still needing doing at the back, because their nine goals conceded is the worst of all teams in the top half of the table. Still, they look as if they are settling in to the season, and with the home advantage in this first London Derby of the season, they should take the initiative here. Spurs have not lost in their last fifteen London derbies, and are favourites with the Bookies to pick up a victory on Sunday.

Arsenal Form: Well, Arsene Wenger has the backing of the Arsenal board, clearly, but he still needs to produce results on the pitch. They barely got through their Champions League match in midweek, a home fixture against Greek side Olympiakos, a side which they thumped 6-0 last season. The narrow 2-1 victory though, showed just where Arsenal are at the moment. Struggling to put out any kind of strength in defence, and looking lightweight in the middle of the park. Yes, the Gunners do have a big injury list, but they genuinely look as if they are going to need to spend if they are going to get inside the top six this season. The Gunners had a torrid start to the new league season, without a win in their first three matches, but have responded a little bit with two wins out of their previous three. There was a win in the Carling Cup as well against Shrewsbury, and the Champions League win will count for something. Morale if nothing else, certainly. Arsenal should get back Theo Walcott for the match, but they are waiting on fitness news on a clutch of other players. Arsenal, who have historically done well against Spurs, have not fared so well in recent times, not being able to beat their North London rivals in their last three meetings. The Gunners have scored just one victory over Spurs in their last six encounters in the Premier League, and with the form that Tottenham have picked up, this could be a difficult match for Arsenal to overturn poor recent history. Arsenal are giving away the ball far too much, giving opposition too much space to exploit and that is where they could fall down heavily against Tottenham. In their three away matches this season, Arsenal have not won, losing two and picking up a 0-0 draw at Newcastle on the opening day of the season. The Gunners have conceded 12 away goals in those three matches (eight of them at Old Trafford of course against United), and only in that previously mentioned 0-0 draw have they kept a clean sheet away from the Emirates. Their 4-3 defeat away at Blackburn would have been a major blow to their confidence, and it showed a lot of problems that Arsenal have at the back. With Robin Van Persie really the only threat up front at the moment for Arsenal, they are not the big offensive threat that they have been in seasons past. The bulk of their goals have come in the 31-45 minute bracket of matches, and they have conceded 71% of their goals in the second half this season. Arsenal have scored first in 50% of their matches, and Robin Van Persie leads the goal scoring charts with three goals. This is a tough match for Arsenal, not only do they have to shake off not being able to beat Spurs much lately, as well as poor away form this season in the Premier League, Arsene Wenger somehow needs to get a huge response out of his players.

Head to Head: There have been 82 matches between Spurs and Arsenal at White Hart Lane, with Spurs scoring 32 victories compared to Arsenal’s 26 and 24 draws. The average goals per match in this fixture is pretty close, with Spurs averaging 1.61 and Arsenal 1.49, so nothing much to split them there. In last season’s corresponding fixture, there was a thrilling 3-3 draw at White Hart Lane and that came on the back of a good 3-2 away win at the Emirates for Spurs. The last time Arsenal won at Spurs was back in the 2007/08 season when they scored a 3-1 win. That means Spurs have not lost in the last five London derbies at home to the Gunners. Five of the last ten meetings with Arsenal at White Hart Lane have produced a draw. There has just been one 0-0 draw in the last 31 meetings between the two sides.

Online Bookmaker Promotion: Bookie Paddy Power have taken the obvious route for the money back special on this big North London derby. If former Gunners striker Emmanuel Adebayor scores in the match (at anytime) then the bookie will refund losing First Goalscorer, Last Goalscorer, Correct Score and Scorecast singles which have been placed on the match. Given Adebayor’s great scoring record in the North London derby, this actually represents some very good coverage to take if you are looking at these markets. Highly rated bookie Paddy Power, welcomes new customers registering an account with a free £50 bet.