Premier League Top Four Betting: AVB finds winning formula in the nick of time

 

Tottenham's chase for Champions League qualification received a much needed boost with a late smash and grab victory over Man City yesterday. After their last gasp heroics, Spurs blogger Chris Miller believes AVB's men are a good bet for a top four finish.

 

Sixty minutes on the clock. Manchester City 1-0 up. Champions League qualification eerily no longer in our hands. Then Andre Villas-Boas made three changes - two to personnel, and one to team shape. Lewis Holtby replaced the ineffective Gylfi Sigurdsson. Tom Huddlestone - who did well in his last couple of substitute appearances - replaced Scott Parker, who has struggled this season. Spurs shifted from a 4-4-2-style formation to a 4-3-3, with Bale sent to play mostly from the right.

 

The signs were immediately there - increased fluidity to the midfield, the full backs more comfortable pushing forward, knowing that there's extra cover in midfield, and Huddlestone's range of passing displayed with a couple of delightful cross-fields to stretch the play quickly.

 

Though it was not until the third substitution - Defoe, back from injury, on for Adebayor - that the goals came. First, Walker plays an intelligent ball down the line for Bale, and he picks out Dempsey with a sumptuous left foot cross to level the scores. Then, Defoe cuts in from the left and bends a superb effort into the far corner. Finally, Huddlestone finds Bale wonderfully for number three.

 

The three substitutes finished with two assists and a goal between them, but Holtby had no little impact either; he made nearly as many passes in 30 minutes (16) than Sigurdsson made in 60 (19), plus two tackles and one interception (Parker, for comparison, made three tackles and two interceptions in double the pitch time). The 4-3-3 can offer possession, fluidity, and the ability to facilitate a player like Huddlestone, safe in the knowledge that the tenacity of Holtby and the strength of Dembele will afford him time and space.

 

Would it be typical for Spurs to now go and lose away at Wigan next week? Yes. But is this a typical Spurs team? Arguably not, and certainly today's result suggests otherwise. AVB seems to have added a real mental toughness to the squad, as has been shown by the number of important late goals that we have scored this season.

 

With Bale, Lennon and Defoe returning from injury, AVB stumbling upon a potentially winning formation (which accommodates all of our most creative talents), Spurs could feasibly finish just as strongly as Arsenal and Chelsea seem to be doing and finish top four.

 

Tottenham Hotspur's remaining fixtures:

 

Wigan Athletic (A)

Southampton (H)

Chelsea (A)

Stoke (A)

Sunderland (H)

 

This might be the euphoria of the result speaking, but backing Spurs for a Top 4 Finish at 1.94 looks a good shout to me.

 

Bet HERE

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