Lee Dixon: Injuries and suspensions to produce a Spurs-Everton stalemate

 

Key performers are missing for both sides but Tottenham may feel the pain more than Everton in this Sunday kick-off, says Lee Dixon

 

Just when Tottenham didn't need injuries to key men they look to have lost three of their finest players with Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe all out for around a fortnight. Champions League qualification for next season, and Europa League success this year, are on the line now.

 

And there are easier opponents than Everton for a team that fully exerted itself on Thursday night and who have bounced back to top form after a thoroughly dispiriting loss to Wigan in the FA Cup.

 

At 11.0 they're still a long shot for the top four, but Everton will know that a win here would be a huge boost to their European aspirations. The next eight games will be a stiff test of Everton's character. Moyes brings his men to London three times to face current top-five opposition, starting with Spurs, followed by Arsenal nine days later and concluding with Chelsea on the closing weekend of the season.

 

But they should embrace the challenge. I enjoyed these closing runs when I was a player. They focused the mind and provided motivation when the body may have been tired. You want to be testing yourself to the season's end and not coasting through 'nothing' matches.

 

A trip to Spurs is one of the tougher games of the season for any Premier League team and the Toffees are missing key personnel in the form of suspended duo Marouanne Fellaini and Steven Piennar. My feeling is that the missing men will have a bigger effect on Tottenham and it's not hard to imagine this will a tough, attritional game at White Hart Lane.

 

Everton have rediscovered their backbone of late, conceding just once in that run of three wins on the bounce. Bale is going to be a big miss for the home team and it's tough to see where the goals are going to come from without him. Emmanuel Adebayor has been misfiring all season long, so it will probably fall to the midfield to provide the breakthrough.

 

Similarly, Everton have not been prolific in recent games, putting just one past Stoke. A goal apiece looks like being the final score to me, and it's my main bet for this match at 7.6, even if it is the favourite in the market.

 

And it would be no surprise were this to be a stalemate at the break so my second bet is the halftime draw at 2.2.

 

Recommended Bets

Back 1-1 correct score @ 7.6

Back a draw at halftime @ 2.2

 

Bet HERE

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