Sports Blog 21/01/2015: Match Preview – Tottenham vs Sheffield United, Wednesday 21st January 2015

After Liverpool held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw at Anfield, Tottenham will be hoping to go one better and beat underdogs Sheffield United in their League Cup semi-final first leg tonight.

Spurs are currently sitting 2 points shy of their north London rivals Arsenal in 6th place in the league and have been inconsistent of late, with 3 win, 2 draws and a loss in their last 6 games. However, Mauricio Pochettino will be expecting a victory tonight as Tottenham host Sheffield United, who are currently in 7th in League One. This is the second cup semi-final for the Blades in 12 months after going out to Hull in an FA Cup thriller last season. However, that cup run saw them with a rather fortuitous set of fixtures that meant they avoided most of the bigger sides in each round. For this year’s League Cup things were slightly different, with Sheffield United overturning West Ham and Southampton, both in the midst of strong Premier League seasons, on their way to the semi-final.



Joining in the third round due to their participation in Europe, Tottenham themselves have had a relatively easy route so far, dismissing Newcastle, their biggest competition in the cup so far, 4-0. In the league things have been slightly dicier, and after Christian Eriksen’s last-gasp winner against Sunderland, Tottenham have now earned 10 league points from goals scored in or after the 88th minute. With this in mind, Spreadex are offering a Last Match Goal spread betting quote of 65-68.

Sheffield United will try and stop such last-mute leaks, and have the previous form to back it up; in their last 25 games their defeats have come by no more one goal, reflecting how tenacious the Sheffield side have been in recent times. Due the Blades’ tight defence, Spreadex are offering a Total Goals spread betting quote 2.9-3.1 for tonight’s game.

To help maintain this form, Nigel Clough will be looking to Marc McNulty, who on 10 goals is 10/1 to score first, alongside Jamal Campbell-Ryce with 6 goals at 16/1. It is fairly obvious who Tottenham will be looking to for a victory tonight: Spurs supremo Harry Kane has 18 goals this season in all competitions, and is favourite to score first at 14/5. However, in the eventuality that Kane is rested, big money flop Soldado may be able to answer his critics, and with only 3 goals this season he is at 4/1. Elsewhere, the aforementioned Erikesen on 8 goals, and Nacer Chadli on 9, are both at 11/2.

Despite the form of Sheffield United, and the special strength they break out for cup fixtures, our clients are finding it difficult to look beyond the gulf in leagues between the two sides, and we have seen plenty of movement on a Tottenham/Sheffield United Goal Supremacy spread betting quote 1.45-1.65.