West Brom v Tottenham: Kane can help fire Spurs to another victory

West Brom v Tottenham: Kane can help fire Spurs to another victory

Andrew Atherley says Jose Mourinho's team have a great chance for a clear-cut win at the Hawthorns...

West Brom v Tottenham
Sunday 8 November, 12:00
Live on Sky Box Office

Long struggle ahead

West Brom remain winless following last week's 2-0 defeat at Fulham, another promoted club, and look set for a season-long struggle after taking only three points from their first seven matches.

The Baggies head into the weekend as second favourites in the relegation market at 1.47.

Slaven Bilic is short of options as he tries to find a winning formula. Hal Robson-Kanu and Sam Field are still on the injury list but Dara O'Shea could be available for the first time in a month.

Spurs in good form

Tottenham climbed to third with last week's 2-1 home win over Brighton and they are unbeaten in the Premier League since the 1-0 home defeat by Everton on the opening weekend.

It is a sign of Spurs' early form that they would have gone top of the table last weekend if they hadn't let their three-goal lead slip against West Ham three weeks ago.

Only Manchester City and Liverpool are ahead of them in the Premier League winner market, with Tottenham priced at 9.8 heading into the weekend.

With Gareth Bale scoring the winner off the bench against Brighton - his first Premier League goal of his second stint - and younger players Tanguy Ndombele and Sergio Reguilon doing well, Jose Mourinho has a first-team squad that is growing in strength and confidence.

Low-scoring hosts vulnerable

West Brom lost 3-0 in their first home game against Leicester on the opening weekend but since then they are unbeaten at the Hawthorns in four league and cup matches. Only one has been a win, however, and that was against League Two side Harrogate.

In the Premier League their standout result has been the 3-3 at home to Chelsea when they led 3-0 at half-time and could not quite withstand the visitors' second-half onslaught, conceding a stoppage-time equaliser.

Bilic will be encouraged that Tottenham have shown some of the same defensive insecurities as Chelsea, especially in allowing that West Ham comeback, but overall West Brom are not scoring enough.

Besides the three goals against Chelsea, they have managed only three more in their other six Premier League games. They have failed to score in three of their last four games, the exception being the 1-1 draw at Brighton.

On top of that, they have conceded heavily against the higher-ranking sides - three at home to Leicester and Chelsea, five away to Everton and two at Southampton.

On that basis they look ill equipped to match Tottenham, who have scored in every Premier League match since the opening defeat to nil against Everton.

The Spurs goals have dried up a little in recent weeks, reflecting their lower figures of shots on goal, but still they boast the Premier League's hottest combination, with Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min having scored 14 goals and had 10 assists between them.

A readjustment was inevitable after the high scores of earlier weeks and perhaps it has been a result of a deliberate Mourinho policy of tightening up his back line (one goal conceded in 180 minutes in the Premier League since the West Ham disaster).

Tottenham remain dangerous going forward and their away record is excellent with three wins out of three and a goal difference of 12-3.

There seems no reason to worry that Spurs are coming off a Europa League Thursday given how well they have coped with the twin demands of that schedule so far. Their Sunday record after Europa League games is W3 D1 L0 and those games include top away performances against Southampton (5-2) and Manchester United (6-1).

A Tottenham win to nil has to come into the reckoning but preference is to take a slight risk with their recent scoring form and go for Tottenham to win by a clear margin.

The recommended bet is Tottenham off 1-5 on the Asian handicap at 2.44.

Spurs could fly high again

West Brom's scoring problems are reflected in the fact that four of their seven matches have had under 2.5 goals (57%).

At home, however, two out of three have gone over 2.5 goals, with high-level opponents (Leicester and Chelsea) both scoring three.

Tottenham's goals figures have evened out after their opening burst. They have had four out of seven (57%) over 2.5 goals this season (similar to the 61% last season), although in both cases their tallies have been higher on the road.

This season they have had 67% over 2.5 goals in away games (from a small sample of three) and last season it was 68%.

With West Brom's high concession rate against the better sides, it is worth considering a Tottenham win with over 2.5 goals at 2.66.

Kane's good scoring record

Given that goal chances are likely to be high for Tottenham and low for West Brom, it could be worth considering putting together an away win with one of the top scorers hitting the target.

Son has led the way so far but Opta point out that Kane has scored seven goals in his seven Premier League appearances against West Brom. This type of opponent looks good for him and Kane to score combined with a Tottenham 3-0 win is worth trying in the Same Game Multi market at better than 14/1 on the Betfair Sportsbook.

Opta Stat

A chunky 46% of the Premier League meetings between West Brom and Spurs have ended in draws (11/24). Of all the fixtures to have been played at least 20 times in the competition, only Aston Villa v West Ham has ended level more regularly (48% - 20/42). A draw is priced at 4.6.