da heads bet： Dramatic doesn’t really do it justice.
da lvbet： Swansea City beat Crystal Palace in a bonkers game last weekend to seal Bob Bradley’s first win in English football, and – more importantly – to bring the Swans off the bottom of the Premier League table and leave them only two points from safety.
It’s still very early to be talking about relegation battles. But at this stage in the season, form is usually locked in and teams at the bottom are short on confidence, making a relegation scrap extremely likely.
For Swansea, however, one of the perks of being 4-3 down in injury time and winning 5-4 is the inevitable boost of morale in the engine room.
Their next game may be against one of the title challengers in Tottenham Hotspur, but that won’t bother them now – not after last weekend.
On top of that, Spurs aren’t exactly in stellar form just now. November was a tough for them – elimination from the Champions League and only one win in all competitions is surely cause for concern.
And so there’s a real chance for Swansea to continue their form, and to continue the misery around White Hart Lane.
Here’s why.
Swans on Song
Confidence could be key in this game. Swansea surely have plenty of it this week, but Spurs are lacking.
There’s not really much to suggest that Swansea are in good knick. They won a game against a fellow relegation struggler, sure, but they also conceded four goals at home to a struggling side.
That doesn’t spell great form, but sometimes that’s just it: in football you can often pinpoint psychologically important events and call them turning points. For Swansea, last week’s result could well be that.
Solid Spurs need to come out and play
Tottenham Hotspur have only lost one game all season – their last one – so why are they seven points off the top of the Premier League table? The answer is fairly simple: too many draws.
After only one last-gasp win over West Ham to shout about in all competitions since beating Manchester City on 2 October, and after four draws in six Premier League games in that time, Tottenham desperately need a win from somewhere.
One of the reasons they draw so many seems to be an innate conservatism rather than going all out for the victory. But their run of form means they’ll have to come out to get one against Swansea, and that represents a big chance for the Swans to capitalise on Tottenham’s recently leaky defence.
Spurs’ leaky defence
Last season, Tottenham’s defence was one of the best in the league, but this time around things are different.
With injuries to Ben Davies and Toby Alderweireld, Spurs were depleted at the back against Chelsea last weekend. In fact, it’s been a similar story all season, in one form or another.
Rotation – thanks to Mauricio Pochettino’s policy of resting defenders frequently in the Champions league – seems to have led to a bit of confusion amongst the back line, especially at its heart.
The centre-back partnership is arguably the most crucial part of any team. Last season, the Alderweireld- Vertonghen axis of competence made Spurs’ defence one of the most feared in the country.
This season, no partnership has emerged so far, and with Swansea in goalscoring form, it could represent a chance for the Jacks to get a run going.