West Bromwich will host fourth placed Tottenham in their first match after shameful transfer story involving their striker Peter Odemwingie and QPR. R’s boss Harry Redknapp said that ‘wires crossed’, but reaction of of Steve Clarke is much more important for unsettled striker. Odemwingie has got few days off from his manager, and that is probably best thing Clarke could do at the moment. I’m not sure how will his team mates respond to this situation, but West Brom needed something to happen after series of poor results, and who knows, maybe this could be the shock therapy they needed.
WBA are five games without a win before this match. In those five games they played Manchester United and Everton from stronger sides, but in games against Fulham, Aston Villa and Reading they were expected to take something more than 1 point in draw against struggling Villa.
They are still in decent position, and after yesterday results, they are sitting 9th, just behind the likes of Liverpool and Swansea.
Tottenham are also in slight downtrend, coming to this match after 3 draws. They are unbeaten in 8 league games though, but they were expected to take something more from their recent games against bottom QPR and out-of-form Norwich.
Spurs are set as favorites in this match, but I’m not sure they will win this match as easy as odds suggest. West Brom will be desperate to end their poor run of form, and although I don’t expect West Brom to park the bus in front of goal, Spurs definitely struggled against teams in bad form in their most recent games.
Ladbrokes‘ 2.20 for away win looks way too low, and is definitely not worth a shot. On the other hand WBA are priced @3.70 at bet365 which definitely represents some value, while draw is priced @3.50 at Stan James.
Under 2.5 goals looks like best bet here, and is available at evens (2.00 at 12bet). Spurs don’t score many recently, and West Brom will definitely give them a good run for their money today, so I don’t think we will see many goals in this match.
Verdict 1-1
West Brom vs Tottenham Preview, Feb 3,
