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Watford vs. Tottenham: New Year, New Spurs

While half of the UK will be waking up on January 1 feeling as though they’ve just taken a wayward Harry Kane penalty to the side of the head, Tottenham’s finest will be heading to Watford’s Vicarage Road.

Forming part of a New Year’s Day double-header, Watford vs. Tottenham looks as though it will gift the latter with a positive start to 2017. With the post-Christmas festivities being kind to Spurs, the bookies are all in agreement that an away win is where the odds will lay heading into this one.

Tottenham Finding their Form

Thanks to a 4-1 drubbing of Southampton, Mauricio Pochettino’s men will be on a high and the odds makers at Sun Bets have responded in kind by setting their win line at 4/6. Although Watford is far from sitting ducks at 4/1, the fact you can get a better price on a draw (14/5) than a home win would suggest The Hornets have it all to do on Sunday.

In fact, to make matters worse for Walter Mazzarri and the Hertfordshire side, Boxing Day’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace was a disappointing result. Despite Watford’s relative success so far this season (10th after 18 games), the performance against Palace left a lot to be desired. Maybe Palace was buoyed by the appointment of new manager Sam Allardyce, maybe they were full of cheer, but after 30 minutes they certainly didn’t look like a side that has only managed four wins this season.

Although Palace began to fade as the match wore on, Watford wasn’t able to assert much dominance and it was only by the grace of a penalty that they managed to sneak a draw. Now, to completely discount the performance by Palace would be harsh, but the reality is that Watford made them look good and if that happens when Tottenham come calling it could be a long 90 minutes.

Spurs’ Strike Rate on the Up

Spurs haven’t been a goal machine this season, but they proved they’ve got the firepower to score by putting four past Southampton. Has something clicked up front? Quite possibly, and if it has then the league leaders should be worried. As it stands, the London club has only conceded 13 this season and if they can combine this with more goals, they’ll become a very tough side to beat.

Unfortunately for Watford, they may be taking on Tottenham at the worst time possible. With a glut of goals distinctly possible, William Hill’s “Tottenham to win by 2 or more goals” bet at 9/4 could be good value. Although punters have been reluctant to speculate on goal bets when it comes to Tottenham this season, the Southampton win has certainly changed the tide and opened up the market.

There Will be Goals, But Don’t Go Crazy

Indeed, if you really fancy the likes of Kane and Dele Alli to hit the target on January 1, you can currently get 28/1 with Coral that Tottenham will clinch another 4-1 away win. Now, the chances of a repeat score line are probably quite low, so the smart money in this instance would probably be over 2.5 goals. Coral will give you 19/20 on this while Sun Bets’ team has pitched it at 10/11.

Although it would be unwise to completely write off Watford in this game, a draw would seem to be the only likely alternative outcome. If we accept that as a reality, it then becomes a matter of how many goals will Spurs win by? Given their current strike rate (just under two goals per game) and goals conceded, 2-0 (7/1 at William Hill) would be a strong bet for this New Year’s Day showdown.

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