The English Premier League race will inevitably get more interesting as the top contenders start to move toward the top of the table. For now, it’s still all Liverpool who enter this contest undefeated but needing to reassert themselves after a draw at Old Trafford against Manchester United last week. They’ve got a game in hand over their three closest challengers–Manchester City, Leicester City and Chelsea–and a victory would leave them 6 up on Manchester City and 8 up on Leicester and Chelsea.
Tottenham Hotspur is coming off a win in Champions League play as they blitzed overmatched Serbian side Crvena Zvezda 5-0. They haven’t been quite as fortunate in Premier League play where in their last two contests they’ve drawn 1-1 with Watford and 3-0 at Brighton. Before that they were dominated by Bayern Munich on their home pitch losing 7-2. They haven’t won a Premiership game in nearly a month–they beat lowly Southampton 2-1 on September 28.
The Spurs stand in 10th place on the table with 12 points. This leaves them 8 behind Chelsea in their quest to finish ‘top 4’. They’re aware that they’re not going to run down the elite sides at the top of the Premier League but as they finish a new stadium they at least want to compete in the Champions League next season. They’re going to have their work cut out for them and with a strong probability of not picking up any points this weekend they’ll need to focus on the games ahead as they face a couple of beatable opponents in Everton and Sheffield United.
Unfortunately for the Spurs they’ve been awful away from home of late–only one win in the last dozen away in all competitions with a 1-4-7 record. Their Premiership away form hasn’t been any better–they’re winless in their last 10 away with a record of 0-2-8. They’ve not had any luck at Anfield of late where Liverpool are unbeaten in the last 9 meetings and are 3-1-0 in the last four. Reds have won 13 straight at Anfield in all competitions with 2+ goals scored in each. Given these trends and the class differential of the teams no hesitation in backing the home team and the ‘Over’.
