Boxing Day is one of the biggest days in the Premier League season. The matchups aren't always the greatest, but this stretch of condensed games between the days leading into Christmas and the days that kick off the new year often prove crucial by the end of the year.
The first of the Boxing Day duels will take place at Wembley Stadium with Tottenham playing host to Southampton.
At 7:30 a.m. ET, tune into NBC Sports Network for live television coverage of this Premier League match on Tuesday, December 26, 2017, at Wembley Stadium.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Tottenham
Southampton
Draw
Over/Under
Odds Analysis
With all of the pre-Christmas games to be played still, there aren't lines out for this Boxing Day duel as of the publication of this article. Still, the Spurs are going to be favored and favored by a heavy margin.
Southampton is one of these teams that could be fighting in the middle of the table at the end of the year or could be scraping by at the bottom in hopes of avoiding relegation.
Tottenham is entering the holiday rush at seventh place on the table, but it's only three points back of Liverpool for fourth place. A few good matches at the end of December and the beginning of January could be the springboard for the rest of the year.
Key Injuries
Soton is doing alright at the moment on the injury front. Ryan Bertrand was taken off against Chelsea on December 16 with a minor knock, but he's expected to be just fine going forward.
Tottenham is still playing without Toby Alderweireld and Victor Wanyama, but these have both been long-term injuries and shouldn't affect the Starting XI.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the Spurs have an incredibly crowded fixture schedule coming up with the Champions League in January. It's entirely possible that Mauricio Pochettino could utilize some of his bench for this fixture since it's theoretically not a horribly difficult fixture.
Recent Form
Southampton has run into some tough times of late. The Saints only have four wins on the campaign in the Premier League, and they haven't won a match since beating Everton the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Since that point, they're 0-2-3, including an embarrassing 4-1 loss at home to Leicester City in their last fixture at home. They'll play against Huddersfield Town at home on Saturday before this Boxing Day battle.
Tottenham will travel to Burnley in what is suddenly becoming an important match against the Clarets on the 23rd. The Spurs were white hot before running into Manchester City, beating Brighton, Stoke City and APOEL in their prior three matches. Man City might have turned the tide in the wrong direction, though, and that could be problematic going forward.
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Pay close attention to that match between Burnley and Tottenham over the weekend. If the Spurs drop that match, frustration could easily boil over.
Both Harry Kane and Dele Alli took some nasty runs at Manchester City players at the tail end of that frustrating 4-1 defeat at the Etihad, and moments like that tend to run over. There aren't enough off days at this point to get these guys away from their own emotions, and there isn't an international break coming any time soon.
As a result, we think the Spurs are in trouble in this fixture. Don't be shocked if they ultimately get stunned at Wembley, a place they have flat out never really been able to call home while White Hart Lane continues getting remodeled.
Premier League Odds: Southampton 2, Tottenham 1
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