Sunderland v Tottenham: AVB's men to shine at The Stadium of Light

Paul Robinson
06 December 2013

Will Defoe keep his place and has Holtby earned a start?

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This weekend's Saturday night football comes from the North-East as Sunderland host Tottenham and Paul Robinson is predicting an away win...

"Away from White Hart Lane they’ve picked up 13 points from a possible 21 and 12 from 12 against teams outside of the ‘Big Seven’."

Back Tottenham @ 1.9310/11

Sunderland v Tottenham
Saturday December 07, 17.30 GMT
Live on Sky Sports 1

Sunderland were beaten 4-3 by Chelsea on Wednesday evening to remain bottom of the Premier League. Summer signing Jose Altidore had opened the scoring with his first goal for the club but a combination of an Eden Hazard masterclass and some pretty poor defending saw them slip to their 10th defeat of the season.

Gus Poyet was supposed to revitalise The Black Cats and while they've shown flashes of improvement - league successes over Newcastle and Man City, and a Capital One Cup victory over Southampton, his tenure has largely been more of the same poor results as they've been beaten by Swansea, Hull, Stoke and now Chelsea.

It is worth noting that The Wearsiders have won three of their last four at the Stadium of Light but in the bigger picture it's five defeats in 10 competitive games this term, and just a pair of clean sheets.

Tottenham earned a much needed three points at Fulham on Wednesday night as they battled back from 1-0 down to win 2-1. A Vlad Chiricheş equaliser was added to by a Lewis Holtby strike that was fit to win any game.

Manager Andre Villas-Boas gave Capoue, Lamela and Defoe starts at the Cottage so it will be interesting to see if he keeps faith with those players or restores the likes of Roberto Soldado and Moussa Dembele. I'd imagine that Holtby will come in for Capoue, but the rest Is pure guesswork.

Despite plenty of criticism, Spurs have actually done quite well this year, especially on the road. Away from White Hart Lane they've picked up 13 points from a possible 21 and 12 from 12 against teams outside of the 'Big Seven'.

Match Odds
Sunderland 4.67/2 Tottenham 1.9310/11 The Draw 3.711/4

It's hard to look past an away victory here. I will concede that Sunderland have look good at home at times this season and that they've already beaten Man City in front of their own fans, but Spurs are doing much better than they've been credited for and the victory at Craven Cottage will have done them the world of good.

AVB's men have picked up the tempo in their last two outings and it would be two wins in a row if it wasn't for Wayne Rooney. I appreciate that they're odds-on, but they're only a shade under even money and opportunities like this can't be passed up.

Over/Under 2.5 Goals
Under 2.5 Goals 1.875/6 Over 2.5 Goals 2.1411/10

While I've been bullish about Tottenham's chances in this match I still think Sunderland will score. The once watertight Spurs backline has been breached 10 times in their last four matches and with the manager tinkering with his centre halves I can't see them keeping a clean sheet.

Steven Fletcher was either dropped or rested against Chelsea but I expect him back on Saturday and the Scot has netted in three of his last five Premier League appearances against Spurs.

What I'm getting at is that the North Londoners are going to need at least two goal to take all three points and that puts all the value in Over 2.5. Their last three have all achieved that and with the midfielders starting to move the ball a bit quicker, we could finally be in for an avalanche of goals for their attacking players.

Cash Out

These two teams will both be looking for a quick start and with the atmosphere in the ground set to be electric, I think we could be in for an early goal. Once one goes in, the goal markets will react accordingly and if we can get a second then who knows.

I might be going against the grain here but cash outs in the Over 4.5 market and above could prove to be a real success.

Recommended Bets

Back Tottenham @ 1.9310/11
Back Over 2.5 goals @ 2.1411/10

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