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Tottenham Hotspur will look to pick up their 6th win in 7 games when QPR are the visitors to White Hart Lane on Sunday.
Harry Redknapp’s side appear to have moved on from a summer of discontent and two heavy defeats at the hands of Manchester City and Manchester United early on in the season to put together a string of victories that has taken them up to 5th in the Premier League and close to the Champions League spots they so dearly crave, and will target maximum points against a newly promoted QPR side that will be flying high after last weekend’s victory over title contenders Chelsea.
While Spurs were picking up a scrappy 2-1 win over Blackburn, QPR were embroiled in a chaotic battle against their local rivals and picked up three points as Chelsea went down to nine men.
That win will bouy QPR and give them hope of a similar upset this weekend, although Redknapp may have something to say about that as he goes in search of keeping Tottenham’s best ever start to the Premier League going.
Redknapp will look to his favoured forward partnership of Rafael Van Der Vaart, who has scored the first goal in each of Spurs’ last four games and loan signing Emmanuel Adebayor , who has immediately earned himself a place in the hearts of the Tottenham faithful despite his links to fierce rivals Arsenal.
Indeed Adebayor has an excellent record against London based clubs – something QPR will no doubt be aware of – with the Togolese striker netting against every London club he has played against.
While everything may be going swimmingly in attack for Spurs, Redknapp continues to manage an injury crisis at the back with Michael Dawson, Ledley King and William Gallas all doubts for the game although King and Gallas will face late fitness tests.
If both men are unable to take to the pitch the responsibility of keeping QPR at bay will go to Sebastian Bassong and Younes Kaboul, a largely untested partnership at the heart of defence that could be a weak point for the Hoops to exploit.
QPR boss Neil Warnock could reintroduce Heidar Helguson into the action with Rob Hulse and DJ Campbell both unavailable for the trip to White Hart Lane, although Jay Bothroyd may get the nod.
The two teams have met only six times in the Premier League with each side picking up three wins apiece, although Spurs should have the upper hand on home soil having lost only one of their last 20 games at White Hart Lane.
Match Winner
Given Tottenham’s outstanding form of late and the inconsistencies of QPR, it comes as no surprise that the home side are favourites for this one.
Paddy Power have Spurs at 1.40 (2/5) for the victory that will keep up the pressure on the top four while a QPR victory is priced at 9.00 (8/1) with Bet365 – perhaps the best bet for Hoops fans is the draw which comes in at 5.00 (4/1) with VC Bet.
First Goalscorer
Both sides have proven goalscorers on the pitch, although the class of the Tottenham forwards puts them as favourites to open the scoring.
Emmanuel Adebayor is the clear favourite to find the net first at 5.00 (4/1) with BlueSQ, although Rafael Van Der Vaart’s exceptional run of scoring first in the last four games understandably puts him in the front runners at 6.00 (5/1) with BWIN.
QPR will look to either Jay Bothroyd, Heidar Helgurson and Adel Taarabt, a former Spurs player who will not doubt be keen to impress, to score the goals to fire them to victory, and all three are 13.00 (12/1) to find the net first with BlueSQ.
Recommended Bets
Correct Score, Spurs 2-1 – 8.50 (15/2) SportingBet
Anytime scorer, Luka Modric – 4.50 (7/2) SkyBet
