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Sunday, 11 December 2011
Barclays Premier League
Stoke v Tottenham, 16:00
Author: Thomas Rooney 07/12/2011
Tottenham will be looking to make it seven Premier League wins a row this weekend when they travel to the Britannia Stadium to face a Stoke side that has got themselves back on track in the last couple of weeks.
Focusing on Tony Pulis’ men to begin with, the last three games have been massive for them. Following a run of four successive defeats in the league, they beat Blackburn Rovers to stop the rot, before advancing in the Europa League and picking up an excellent away win against Everton most recently.
Looking at the league table now makes you wonder what anyone connected with Stoke City was worried about. They are 8th, with a two point cushion over Aston Villa in 9th, leading the best of the rest in the Premier League.
The Potters will want this to continue though. They will want the recent slump to simply be a blip for a team that is improving all the time and setting their sights higher and higher.
Regardless of their recent turnaround in fortunes though, it doesn’t get much tougher than facing Tottenham at the moment. Harry Redknapp’s men have won six Premier League games in a row and playing better than ever before.
There appears to be a new ruthless streak to Spurs too. Last year, they fell short of the top four because of disappointing results in games they were expected to win. This hasn’t been the case of late.
In their last two games, they have gone to West Brom and won relatively comfortably, before being at their assertive best during a 3-0 victory over relegation threatened Bolton Wanderers. They will of course want this pattern to continue against Stoke this weekend.
There is plenty of motivation for Redknapp’s men to continue picking up points of course. As things stand, they are only two points behind Manchester United with a game in hand.
So, if they can come away from Stoke with the points, they go into two successive home games – against Sunderland and Chelsea – with genuine ambitions of ending the year in 2nd position and acting as Manchester City’s main rivals for the title.
This would be an excellent reward for the recent form of course, but is only relevant if they keep it going. It is perhaps unrealistic to suggest they can maintain their high level of performance throughout the busy Christmas period, but they must grind out results when necessary.
Whether they manage to do this at the Britannia Stadium this weekend remains to be seen though. It is an extremely difficult place to go and against a rejuvenated Stoke side, they may have to settle for a score draw.
Football betting tip: Draw @ 5/2 with Bet365 - (£200 extra on your deposit)
Correct score prediction: Stoke 1:1 Tottenham @ 7.4 with Betfair
Watch our Football Video Podcast on the Stoke v Tottenham match by Thomas Rooney and Pete South including their predictions.