Tottenham will be hoping to still have a Premier League championship to go chase by the time it gets on the field on Monday night. Should Leicester City claim all three points at Manchester United on Sunday, the EPL race will be over with, and the Spurs can go back to solely focusing in on locking up a spot in the Champions League next year.
If the Foxes do fall though, all of a sudden, this London derby against Chelsea could become an all-out war.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Chelsea +205
Tottenham +125
Draw +250
Over/Under 2.5 (over -120)
ODDS ANALYSIS
Did you ever think you'd see the day where Tottenham was favored at Chelsea in a match? It's been practically forever for the Spurs since that's happened, but it's tough to say that it isn't deserved.
Tottenham has overachieved all season long and has held the second position on the table for quite some time now. They've gotten 15 results from 17 away matches thus far, and they almost have to be fancied against a Chelsea team which is shockingly just 5-7-5 at home this year and is stuck playing uninspired ball right in the middle of the EPL table.
The total is rather ho hum at 2.5 with a slight -120 shade towards the over.
KEY INJURIES
The list of injuries for Chelsea is still extensive. Gary Cahill sat out last weekend against Bournemouth with the flu, and he still isn't back in training as of Wednesday. Loic Remy, John Terry and Kurt Zouma are all out of the fold, perhaps for the rest of the term. The most important absentee though, is Thibaut Courtois, who is finishing serving a two-match suspension against Tottenham.
Eric Dier picked up a concussion in Tottenham's draw with West Brom last weekend. It's highly unlikely he's cleared to get back on the pitch before then. Nabil Bentaleb is still probably a week or two away from returning from his knee injury, and we can't imagine he's risked if the Premier League title is out of reach. Dele Alli has also been charged by the FA and is likely to be suspended for at least this fixture, if not for the rest of the year.
LIVE BETTING
You have to wonder if Tottenham has just run out of gas at this point. Keeping up with Leicester City while simultaneously making a deep run in the Europa League was never going to be easy, and a 1-1 draw at home against West Brom last weekend was probably the last straw. It's not like the results have been bad; the two matches prior, the Spurs beat up Stoke City and Man U by an aggregate of 7-0. It all just hasn't been enough to win a championship.
Chelsea was definitely the better side against Bournemouth last weekend with a 4-1 away win, but that's really a relatively rare display in a season in which virtually everything has gone wrong. The Blues were crushed 3-0 by Manchester City the week prior and were lifeless offensively in a 1-0 defeat on the road at Swansea before that.
QUICK PICK
Guus Hiddink isn't going to be on the grounds at Chelsea in a few more weeks, but we think he's done a nice job incorporating some of the younger members of the team in some games which were relatively meaningless. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Bertrand Traore, Kenedy and Matt Miazga, all of which are 20 years old or young, have shown plenty of signs of improvement.
The key man in this soccer match though, is Asmir Begovic. He's been a missal in the pipes for the Blues, and the goals which he's allowed largely have come at no fault of his own.
Throw in there the fact that the Spurs won't have Dele Alli and could reasonably have nothing left to play for this year themselves, and we find this price of over 2 to 1 on the Blues to be incredibly juicy.
English Premier League Odds: Chelsea 1, Tottenham 0
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