Sheffield United host Tottenham in a match crucial to each side's aspirations at either end of the Premier League. Michael Beardmore has a preview and best bets.
Football betting tips: Premier League
1pt Sheffield United most corners 7/4
1pt Jayden Bogle to have 1+ shot on target at 7/2
0.5pt Jayden Bogle to score anytime at 20/1
For details of advised bookmakers and each-way terms, visit our transparent tipping record
Sheffield United v Tottenham
- 14:05 GMT on Sky Sports Main Event
- Match odds: Home 5/1 | Draw 29/10 | Away 4/7
Basement boys Sheffield United have been drinking in the Last Chance Saloon for some time now and you suspect Sunday’s visitors Tottenham, albeit for different reasons, are pulling up a bar stool next to them.
With daunting trips to both Manchester clubs on the horizon, the Blades know they have to take something from this game if their ‘Great Escape’ hopes are to be anything other than a pipe dream.
A dodgy December, meanwhile, saw Jose's Spurs slip off the pace at the top of the Premier League and nothing other than a win at Bramall Lane will do if they are to claw their way back into contention.
Anyone who watched Tottenham draw with Fulham in midweek – or at Wolves a couple of weeks back, for that matter – will surely be wary of the skinny 4/7 on a visitors’ triumph in South Yorkshire.
Table-toppers just a few weeks ago, they have slipped to sixth, six points off the summit - after picking up just six points from the last 18 available - and another chance at a title tilt might already have, again, passed them by.
That’s not to say they won’t win here but the result is not the foregone conclusion it would have been in, say, November and their price offers little value. But while the 11/8 double chance on Sheffield United/Draw is tempting, it’s tough to make too much of a case for the Blades either.
A 3-2 FA Cup victory at Bristol Rovers and 1-0 triumph over 10-man Newcastle might have ended a six-month win drought but Spurs should be, on paper at least, a completely different proposition.
The 4/5 on under 2.5 goals is correctly priced but the Blades have lost 2-1 too many times this season for that to be advised and we know what can happen when Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son catch fire. With Spurs’ consistency and the Blades' lack of quality – just nine goals in 18 games – an issue, it’s wise to look elsewhere than the outright outcome in this one.
An area where the Blades appear to have been overpriced is the corners market, where they are 7/4 outsiders with Bet365 and Unibet to earn more than Tottenham, who are an utterly avoidable 4/5.
Put aside the fact that they are the home team and desperate for a win, they have won 17 more corners – 89 to Spurs’ 72 – than their visitors this season, admittedly having played a game more.
Spurs have shown a tendency to sit back if they do go ahead and have lost the corner count in nine of their 17 league games this season, including against two of the bottom four, Brighton and West Brom, as well as to Leeds, which we profited on.
United, meanwhile, have won the corner count in six of their past seven despite losing most of those games, the only aberration being at Brighton when they played half the game with 10 men.
One of the real plus points for the Blades in the early knockings of 2021 is the emergence of Jayden Bogle at right wing-back – the summer signing from Derby has looked a real find filling in for the injured George Baldock.
Baldock is back in training but Bogle should retain his place against Spurs, which is good news as he provides real value going forward at 20/1 to score anytime with Unibet and 7/2 with Sky Bet to merely register a shot on target.
Bogle has scored twice in three-and-a-half games since coming into the team and has enjoyed five shots on target in that time – Spurs will be the best quality opposition he has faced yet but those prices are well worth a whirl.
Score prediction: Sheffield United 1-2 Tottenham (Sky Bet odds: 7/1)
Sheffield United v Tottenham best bets
Sheffield United most corners 7/4
Odds correct at 1700 GMT 14/01/21
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