Chelsea – Tottenham

The match of the round in the Premier League will see leaders Chelsea take on a resurgent Tottenham side at Stamford Bridge.

We all know Chelsea has been simply brilliant so far this season, especially in the Premier League. The Blues are 6th points clear at the top of the table and have seemed to be unstoppable for most times, but they are on the back of a 0-0 draw at Sunderland, being unable to break down the Black Cats’ defense. Cheslea did not usually have problems scoring in this campaign but looking at the Sunderland performance and at the fact that Diego Costa misses today might call for a bit of worry.

Tottenham really stepped it up recently, putting together a run of 3 consecutive wins in all competition, which is actually their longest since August. The level of football was not too impressive against Hull and Partizan, but Tottenham got one of their best results of the season last round against Everton, winning 2-1 against a very solid team, despite some big pressure from Everton in the second half. There`s still a lot to be sorted out for the 8th placed Spurs, but they will look to build on the Everton win and maybe pull off an upset at Stamford Bridge.

Bet on Chelsea vs. Tottenham with the highest Premier league odds at Pinnacle.

Team news & lineups

Chelsea will have to do without Costa and Ake, while Tottenham has no definitive absentees aside from Kyle Naughton but will have to asses the fitness of a number of players before game time: Chiriches, Rose, Walker, Adebayor, Townsend and Capoue are all doubtful.

Chelsea: Courtois – Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta – Matic, Fabregas – Schurrle, Oscar, Hazard – Drogba

Tottenham: Lloris – Dier, Vertonghen, Fazio, Davies – Lennon, Bentaleb, Mason, Eriksen – Kane, Soldado

I was looking long and hard at Tottenham after finding out Costa will miss the game, but there just doesn`t seem to be any logical way in which the Spurs will get points today, especially considering their injuries on the defensive end. Despite the 3 game winning streak they have been far from impressive – poor performances against Hull and Partizan, being pressured big time by Everton at home. I expect Chelsea to bounce back after the Sunderland draw, can`t see Mourinho`s team playing two shaky matches in a row – they always recovered in impressive fashion this season after a ‘not so good’ result and just to be clear, they were not awful over the weekend, they deserved to win at Sunderland.

My tip is Chelsea to win and cover the 1,25 handicap, expect them to destroy Spurs’ error-prone and decimated defense even without Diego Costa. Over 2,5 goals might also be a good bet, but I`m not sure if Tottenham will score, so it could be dangerous at odds of just 1.70. Prediction: Chelsea – Tottenham 3-1.

Pick: Chelsea (-1,25 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 2.07 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 8.56
Event date: 3 December