Half of north London is praying it’s a white Christmas and that a big bloke with a beard will be bearing gifts over the festive period in the shape of three points rather than gold, frankincense and whatever myrrh is.
Whether or not Tottenham fans will receive early presents from the Thursday night trip to south coast and a match at Bournemouth remains to be seen though. Spurs followed their 4-0 demolition of Manchester City at a stunned Etihad Stadium by drawing 2-2 with Roma in a Europa League match on home soil where they were then held to a 1-1 draw with Fulham back in the league.
They were without England striker Dominic Solanke for the Cottagers’ visit as he was suffering an illness and it will be a major boost if he is able to face his former club (Spurs are making a late call) as he has settled down well with Tottenham. Big Dom has been everything manager Ange Postecoglou imagined he would be when he was lured away from Bournemouth in the summer.
The Cherries have kept only one clean sheet all season, which rather surprisingly was against Arsenal, and have scored at least twice in three of their last four matches, while Spurs have prevented their opponents from getting on the scoreboard just twice in their previous dozen outings – although they have hit the net in 18 of their 20 games this term and are the top flight’s top scorers.
Tottenham have also fared well against their Thursday night opponents, losing only two of 14 meetings, so a take them to win and both teams to score at 13/5 with William Hill, Betway, bet365, Betfair and BoyleSports.
Brennan Johnson is 9/1 with the latter firm to celebrate his 11th goal of the season by opening the scoring while Solanke is 9/5 with Unibet and BetMGM to score with Antoine Semenyo 5/2 with Paddy Power and Betfair to get in on the act.
Fulham played well in the draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, bouncing back from a shock 4-1 defeat at home to Wolves and they have performed well this season without really pulling up any trees.
They entertain Brighton who journey from the south coast to the banks of the Thames having been held to a 1-1 by bottom club Southampton at the Amex last Friday. The extra time between matches won’t have done them any harm and the Seagulls can fly home with full points at 39/20 with Unibet.
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