Tottenham v Brentford – EFL Cup Betting Preview
Betting-previews.com’s free soccer betting preview for Tuesday takes a look at the EFL Cup semi-final showdown between Tottenham Hotspur and Brentford, who will lock horns at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The match will mark the first time in over 10 years these two sides will clash and an excellent opportunity for Jose Mourinho’s men to get themselves one step closer to their first silverware in 13 years. Despite being recognized as massive favorites, Tottenham’s struggles this season are more than noticeable which begs the question of whether they can survive the Bees and lock in their spot in the grand finals.
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Tottenham vs Brentford
When: Tuesday, January 5, 19:45 GMT
Where: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 3°C
Referee: Mike Dean
Tottenham got off to a shaky start of the season, however, they still sit in a respectable fourth spot in the Premier League standings with an 8-5-3 record and 29 points. They enter this match with a 1-2-2 record in their last five outings, which includes losses against Liverpool (1-2), and Leicester (0-2), two draws against Crystal Palace (1-1) and Wolverhampton (1-1) and a commanding 3-0 win against Leeds on Saturday.
Tottenham’s win over Leeds marked their first victory since December 6, which might indicate Mourinho’s side have returned to winning ways, but we have to consider Leeds did their part in losing that bout. Much of Tottenham’s success that day was due to Leed’s reckless approach to the game, where they left themselves exposed and can count themselves lucky they did not concede more than three times.
Regardless, Spurs played well and having finally tasted victory in almost a month, they will surely be motivated to keep their run alive and extend the momentum into the EFL Cup.
While Spurs were letting their frustrations out on Leeds, Brentford enjoyed the weekend off, after their Championship fixtures against Bristol City got postponed due to reports of COVID-19 cases amongst opposition players. But it’s not like Brentford will enter this match cold since their last match took place last Wednesday when they edged out Bournemouth with 2-1.
Against Bournemouth, the Bees were far more effective in the first half, where they had 53% possession and shot with 4/10 in comparison to the second half where Thomas Frank’s team managed only 39% possession and shot 6/4. Regardless, they kept playing at a high tempo, which eventually secured them the game-winning goal in the 79th minute when Bryan Mbeumo executed an excellent pass to Tarique Fosu, who scored his first goal of the season.
With that win, Brentford extended their unbeaten streak to 16 in a row, having won all games in that stretch beside seven that ended in a stalemate. Brentford enter this match on a four-game winning streak, which includes a 1-0 victory over Newcastle in the EFL Cup.
Tottenham and Brentford will clash on Tuesday for the first time since 2000, when Tottenham won 2-0 in the 1/32-finals of the EFL Cup. Since 1949, these two sides met 10 times and not once have Brentford managed to get a better of Tottenham (0-3-7) and were even less successful when facing the Spurs on their home ground (0-2-5).
In their history, Tottenham have always advanced to the League Cup finals when faced with a non-EPL team at this stage of the competition. What’s more, Mourinho has won 15 out of 17 home matches against a non-top-flight team (15-1-1).
Brentford, meanwhile, enter this first EFL Cup semi-finals with a scary record, seeing how they have already eliminated four Premier League teams including Newcastle, Southampton, West Brom and Fulham. The Bees have also lost only three games this term (14-10-3) and only twice since the opening day of the competition.
Although Tottenham are the most likely victors, they are not a team you would count on to score many goals, considering they have managed fewer than two strikes in five out of eight home fixtures. They have also scored more than two goals only once in the past two months, which is not too exciting despite their recent 3-0 win over Leeds.
Brentford, on the other side, tend to end most of their games against top Championship teams with both teams finding the net, which was the case in eight out of their last 10 outings. They also boast with the most goal attempts out of all Championship teams, so they’re definitely a squad that can cause some problems to Spurs, who have conceded in five out of their last six outings.
The referee for this match will be Mike Dean. This will be his 12th game in charge this season and his first since a 2-2 stalemate between Leicester and Manchester United on Saturday, December 26 when he has shown three yellow cards. Dean has handed out 42 yellow and three red cards in 11 games and has booked at least three yellow cards in all but two games since September.
Prediction: Both teams to score, 1.93 at Pinnacle
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