Prediction & odds for the game: Tottenham (11/8) v Leicester (21/10)

When: Sunday, 19th July @ 4pm K.O

Where: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City will continue their push for a place in Europe next season when they meet in North London this weekend.

Tottenham

Jose Mourinho seems to have a love-hate relationship with most people in football, but for Tottenham fans, they aren’t all too happy with the old school style of football that he’s introduced since replacing Mauricio Pochettino. They have been able to get some positive results since the restart, but as they continue to scratch and claw in an attempt to even qualify for the UEFA Europa League, you have to wonder whether or not the Portuguese boss will make it to next season.

The 2-0 win over West Ham United back in late June may not have been particularly inspirational, but it did help to ease some of the lingering worries that fans had about the direction Spurs were heading in. Unfortunately for them, they soon came crashing back down to earth in a 3-1 defeat to Sheffield United. They have won three games out of four since then against Everton, Arsenal and Newcastle, but they were really poor in their 0-0 draw against Bournemouth.

Leicester

At the start of the year, it really did feel as if Leicester City qualifying for the UEFA Champions League was an incredibly likely outcome. Now, six months later, they are hanging on by a thread after a dismal run of form. They’ve been able to steady the ship ever so slightly, but Brendan Rodgers will be well aware of the fact that the expectations have been raised significantly as a direct result of their phenomenal start to the campaign.

Losing to Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup was one thing, but the 2-1 defeat against Everton really was a kick in the teeth for a lot of fans. They clawed themselves back into UCL contention with a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace, before registering a somewhat fortunate point against Arsenal. Alas, they couldn’t avoid another shocker of a performance in a 4-1 loss to Bournemouth, which is still considered to be a huge low point even after their 2-0 win over Sheffield United last night.

Conclusion

While the Foxes have enjoyed a decent enough run of form lately, we still aren’t convinced that they’re going to be able to outsmart Jose in this game. We do think there are going to be flashes of brilliance from both sides, especially Leicester, but Tottenham have figured out how to grind out games at this late stage of the season. We’re backing them to edge out a 2-1 win, in a similar manner to their win over Arsenal in the North London derby.

Courtesy of us predicting a 2-1 win for Spurs, we’re also going to be backing the over 2.5 goals market.

Verdict: Back the home win at odds of 11/8 and the over 2.5 goals scored at odds of 10/11. (All odds are taken from bet365).

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