Fulham v Tottenham: No respite for Pochettino at the Cottage

Fulham v Tottenham
Sunday February 19, 14:00 GMT
Live on BBC One

Fulham

Following a couple of years of disappointment in the Championship, Fulham finally look like possible promotion candidates, even if it's only through the play-offs.

Slaviša Jokanović's side are in eighth place and while they come into the weekend six points behind Sheffield Wednesday, they certainly have the firepower to close that gap. They've scored 52 goals this season - the same as Brighton and more than the four teams who currently occupy the play-off positions.

At Craven Cottage, Fulham have won four on the bounce in all competitions - scoring a dozen goals in the process. Four of those were against Premier League outfit, Hull, as they demolished them in the last round of this competition.

Tottenham

This is an important match for Spurs as they suffered a damaging defeat at Liverpool in the Premier League last Saturday and they also lost the first leg of their Europa League tie at Gent on Thursday.

A third defeat in just over a week would leave Mauricio Pochettino's men at crisis point and I would have concerns about how they would then finish the campaign. We've already seen how they react under pressure last term and while the players are all a year older, it's still a relatively young squad.

The word is that the manager will make several changes to his starting line up for this match, with the likes of Dele Alli, Kyle Walker, Hugo Lloris and Harry Kane all missing out.

Match Odds
Fulham 4.20 Tottenham 1.98 The Draw 3.85

I have to feel that the hosts have been undervalued here as there is no way that Tottenham should be odds-on. They are without a win in any of their last four away from White Hart Lane and in the wider picture, it's two victories from 14 away games since a 1-0 success at CSKA in September.

Fulham suffered three defeats on the spin on this ground back in September but since then it's played 11, won seven, drawn three and lost just one. The defeat was to Brighton and it took two late goals to beat them.

Obviously this is a step up in opponent but with Pochettino set to field a second string side, I just can't see Fulham being beaten. I can't decide between the draw or a home win, so I'm going to settle for a lay of Spurs at 1.99. This means that you will double your money if Fulham avoid defeat.

Over/Under 2.5 Goals
Over 2.5 Goals 1.73 Under 2.5 Goals 2.34

The over is heavily favoured in this market and although I wouldn't necessarily disagree, I'm not interested in backing it. The visitors have fired blanks in their three latest away outings, as all three saw under 2.5 backers collect.

The opposite can be said for Fulham's last three at the Cottage as the scorelines were 4-1, 3-2 and 3-2, but I'd be hugely surprised if they netted more than twice on Sunday.

The number of goals in this game really could go either way, so it's definitely a no bet for me.

Recommended Bets

Lay Tottenham @ 1.99