Tottenham v West Ham: Kane can lead Spurs to win in all-London Carabao clash

Spurs looked fresh and up for the fight against Liverpool and Antonio Conte's men can win Wednesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final against West Ham, says Dave Tindall...

Spurs look ready to build on Liverpool draw

Due to postponements, this will be Tottenham's fifth straight home game. They'll actually extend it to six when they host Crystal Palace on Boxing Day.

The hopes that Antonio Conte would spark Spurs into life are starting to look well founded.

They've won three and drawn two of their five Premier League games so far. And with three matches in hand over the top four, they could pull to within three points of third-placed Chelsea if they win them all.

That's maybe getting carried away but the signs are good. Back-to-back home wins over Norwich (2-0) and Brentford (3-0) were expected but the pulsating 2-2 draw with Liverpool was hugely encouraging, with Spurs running out clear winners on expected goals.

Both sides could claim they deserved all three points and Conte said later: "On one hand, I think we had a good performance, great commitment, great desire to take points against a strong team, against one of the best teams in the world.

"To get one point could be good, but on the other hand when you create this many chances and have this type of performance you have to kill your opponent and get three points."

To get to the quarter-finals of this competition, they've beaten Wolves on penalties (after a 2-2 draw) and edged out Burnley by a single goal at Turf Moor.

West Ham starting to stall

The idea that West Ham would drift back towards mid-table after their excellent 2020/21 campaign has looked way off the mark for most of this season.

The Hammers have been excellent, putting themselves in position for another crack at a top-four finish while enjoying success in the Europa League and this competition too.

To get to the last eight they've won 1-0 away at Manchester United and, even better still, ended Manchester City's four-year grip on the trophy by winning a shootout following a 0-0 draw at the London Stadium.

After that, they must think they can beat anyone.

Those wins over the Manchester clubs came during a run when they won eight times in 11 matches, drawing two others. It seemed they were more than coping with having to battle on multiple fronts.

But they go into this one with three defeats, two draws and a single win in their last six. True, the win was over Chelsea but there was luck involved and it seems most teams are taking points off Thomas Tuchel's men at the moment.

Failure to find the net in their last three games is also a concern and would put me off backing Both teams to Score at just 1.79. Of course, the 'No' option is there and that's 2.16.

Spurs can book their place in the semis

West Ham have already beaten Spurs this season, a Michail Antonio goal settling the outcome of a fairly mediocre match at the London Stadium.

But Antonio hasn't scored in nine starts since and that was Nuno Espirito Santo's Tottenham.

The current Tottenham look completely re-energised under Conte and having two weeks off through cancellations - albeit with a number of players hit by Covid - clearly benefitted them in the game against Liverpool when they were able to fight back from 2-1 down.

West Ham's last four away games in the Premier League have been extremely disappointing: a 1-0 defeat at Wolves, a 2-1 loss at Manchester City, a 0-0 draw at Burnley and a limp 2-0 defeat at Arsenal. Their one goal in that run was a 90th-minute consolation.

Tottenham beat West Ham in the fourth round of this tournament in 2018/19 and I think they're a good bet at 2.34 to see them off in 90 minutes on Wednesday.

The early money has come for Spurs and that makes sense. West Ham are 3.35 to win in regulation time while The Draw after 90 is 3.5.

Kane can go on a run

With this the quarter-final stage and a trophy now in sight (Man City are out and it hardly seems a priority for Liverpool) it seems a fair guess that Conte will go strong. And that means a start for Harry Kane.

Kane has been in the starting XI for both rounds so far and scored in the away tie at Wolves. More importantly, though, is that he comes in fresh off his first Premier League goal for over two months.

He slotted it away in classic Kane style to open the scoring against Liverpool and I'm going to back him to add another on Wednesday. Kane to score is 2.08 and I have a feeling the England captain can now go on a run.

On the Bet Builder, Kane to score and Spurs to win is approximately 3.0 so that's another way to play it.

For those that think Kane's luck is really in (the lack of a red card against Liverpool would suggest so!), he's 7.0 to score twice and 30.0 for a hat-trick.

If either of our two bets land, we make a profit.

Opta Stat

Tottenham are looking to reach the semi-finals of the League Cup for the 17th time - only Liverpool (17 before this season) have reached the last four of the competition so often.



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