Tottenham v Stoke Tip

Eleven of Tottenham’s 18 league matches in 2013-14 have witnessed under 2.5 goals with that ratio rising to six out of nine when you only look at games at White Hart Lane.

Two of the three exceptions came against Liverpool and Manchester United with the real anomaly coming against West Ham in early October. That 3-0 win for the Hammers can be put down as a freak result, but generally speaking, when Spurs are at home to the division’s lesser lights, don’t expect goals.

The main reason for this is that the Lilywhites have only managed to score more than once in two of their last 11 home league matches. Tim Sherwood failed to end that sequence against West Brom and now he must do so quite possibly without Townsend, Defoe, Dembele or Lennon.

Stoke have often been pretty resilient under Mark Hughes and their bizarre 5-1 hammering at Newcastle can be attributed to playing more than half the match with only nine men. With a full allocation they have been a tough nut to crack; the Potters had only lost one of their previous eight league fixtures prior to Boxing Day.

All this leads me to expect another dour encounter and best odds of Evens (Bet365) on there being under 2.5 goals strikes me as decent value.