Prediction & odds for the game: Tottenham (8/15) v Brighton (5/1)

When: Thursday, 26th December 2019 @ 12.30pm K.O

Where: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Tottenham Hotspur will attempt to keep their push for a place in the top four going strong as they host Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League.

Tottenham

While Tottenham’s bubble hasn’t exactly burst, there’s certainly an inconsistency to Jose Mourinho’s tenure ever since he became the club’s new manager. There’s a whole lot of work to do concerning what the future of this squad is going to be, and Mourinho needs to be the one that orchestrates that work. All of this starts with the home game against Brighton which, when you really think about it, should mark a decisive three points for the top four contenders.

As we’ve already noted, inconsistency is the name of the game for Tottenham who have played six games across the last month (if you included the final day of November). They’ve been able to pick up wins against Bournemouth, Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers, but defeats to Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Chelsea put them back in their place.

Brighton

Graham Potter has done a solid enough job with Brighton so far this season and while they haven’t exactly been blowing everyone away with their performances, they’re certainly a team that is capable of pushing up into the top half of the Premier League table. The bottom half is so tight right now that they need to just keep clawing away and picking up points here and there, regardless of how ugly their overall performance may be.

A 2-1 win over Arsenal at the Emirates reminded Seagulls fans that they’re capable of some great things in the top flight. They went on to draw 2-2 with Wolves which was a big result, although a 1-1 draw against bitter rivals Crystal Palace was a bit of a disappointment considering they had the lead. They were also beaten by high-flying Sheffield United, Liverpool and Leicester.

Conclusion

Brighton will probably try and frustrate Tottenham which you’d have to expect given their stature relative to Spurs’ squad, but we don’t think it’s going to work. This is going to be a scrappy game of football and we picture Tottenham getting a goal in the first half and sitting on that lead for as long as they possibly can. They’ll hold out, eventually, but it’s going to be much nervier than it probably should be. At the end of the day, though, a win is a win at this level.

This isn’t going to be the best game of football you’ve ever seen and we don’t think that we’re shocking anyone by saying that. As such, we’re backing the under 2.5 goals, which will probably bring on a sigh or two from the masses.

Verdict: Back the home win at odds of 8/15 and the under 2.5 goals scored at odds of 13/10. (All odds are taken from bet365).

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Tottenham v Brighton can be bet on at the betting page, and as always, other games are available on the soccer predictions page.