Swansea v Tottenham: Hope rises for strugglers but Spurs look too sharp

Swansea v Tottenham
Tuesday 2 January, 19:45
Live on Sky Sports

Carvalhal off to a flyer

Carlos Carvalhal made an instant impact as Swansea boss with a 2-1 win at Watford on Saturday thanks to late goals from Jordan Ayew and Luciano Narsingh.

The remarkable turnaround in the last five minutes moved the Swans on to 16 points, just two points from safety, and gives them momentum going into this difficult home match.

Visitors well rested

Tottenham have been in tremendous form over the festive period with a 3-0 win at Burnley followed by a 5-2 home victory over Southampton.

Mauricio Pochettino's side were not given a fixture on Saturday, which potentially helps them here after a full week of rest since their last match.

Spurs hold the aces

Swansea have the lowest points tally at home in the Premier League and the lowest goals scored too, with just six in 10 games at the Liberty stadium.

With that in mind, the obvious tactic for Carvalhal is to keep his new side compact and difficult to break down. He has been left with a blueprint of how to do that against Spurs by his predecessor Paul Clement, who guided the Swans to a goalless draw in the reverse fixture at Wembley in September.

Stopping Tottenham is a hard task at the moment, however. With Harry Kane in blistering form (10 goals in his last eight Premier League appearances) and Dele Alli emerging from his mid-season dip, Spurs have found the net in 10 consecutive matches in all competitions since a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal on November 18.

Tottenham's record against bottom-half teams is W8 D2 L0 and they have won three out of three on the road in that category (2-0 at Newcastle, 3-2 at West Ham and 4-0 at Huddersfield).

Unless Swansea shut up shop completely in front of their own fans, it is difficult to see them stopping Pochettino's side.

Goals look likely

Tottenham are likely to be the drivers of the goals tally, with over 2.5 goals having occurred in seven of the nine Premier League matches in which they scored two or more.

In the 11 games where they were restricted to one or less, eight had under 2.5 goals.

Swansea have had over 2.5 goals in eight out of 11 against top-half teams and have conceded at least two goals in every home game against a top-half side, which points towards a high-scoring game unless Carvalhal can tighten them up immediately.

Kane to open floodgates

For longer odds, we are looking at what type of win Spurs might secure and a decent option is Tottenham to win and over 2.5 goals at Evens with Betfair Sportsbook.

Seven of Tottenham's 11 wins have come in that fashion and it is also notable that over 2.5 goals has occurred in eight of the nine matches where Kane has scored. With Tottenham's main man in such good form, he could well open the floodgates again.

Ref Watch

Bobby Madley has issued at least three yellow cards in eight of his 10 Premier League matches this season. He was in charge of Tottenham's home games against Bournemouth (four yellows) and Brighton (two) but this is the first time he has been ref for a Swansea league game this season.

Opta Stat
Both teams have scored in all six Premier League meetings between these sides at the Liberty Stadium.