Prediction: Swansea City vs Tottenham

30th December 2011

Swansea City cannot be happy with the 1:1 draw against Queens Park Rangers, although I don’t think they would be too disappointed to pick up one point against in-form Tottenham. Spurs proved their title credentials by completely outclassing high-flying Norwich and they aim to do something similar against Swansea as well.

Brendan Rodgers’ side have been a real refreshment in English Premier League, especially when we are talking about the newly promoted sides. The majority of teams that gain promotion from the Championship tend to forget everything they ever knew about the beautiful game and soon become completely result-oriented, but not Swansea. The Swans continued to rely on their slick passing game even if they knew that could cost them Premiership survival, and they have been properly rewarded for the brave approach. Their showings at the Liberty Stadium have been nothing short of impressive, and even though Brendan Rodgers’ side need to toughen up on the travels, they certainly look more than capable of surviving their first Premiership campaign. The Swans did suffer a small dip in form, which can be a problem now that they are about to face in-form Tottenham, with the home slip up against Queens Park Rangers serving as a small blow to the players’ confidence. The hosts are hoping Gary Monk and Angel Rangel will recover in time to face Spurs, but Steven Caulker is ineligible to face his parent club.

While Spurs had been showing a lot of potential even before they became the first side to break the Premiership Big 4, it was not until this season that Tottenham managed to finally live up to the billing. The arrival of world-class players such as Rafael van der Vaart, Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor gave Spurs a tremendous boost in their quest for Premiership glory, but one shouldn’t underestimate the impact of a-kind-of-a-fit-again Ledley King or ever impressive Gareth Bale and Luka Modric. The fact is that Harry Redknapp managed to create a homogenous unit from his star-studded squad and that is probably the main reason why Tottenham are still regarded as genuine title contenders. Spurs showed a real character by recording a comfortable win over Norwich just few days after the poor performance against Chelsea, and I certainly wouldn’t bet against them recording another important away win. Ledley King and Aaron Lennon are expected to miss out, but Jermain Defoe should be fit to play.

Conclusion

It is not hard to see that I am really impressed by Swansea this season, but I still cannot see how Brendan Rodgers’ side are going to stop Tottenham from winning this game. Spurs simply have too many in-form players at the moment and when that is the case, they are capable of beating much stronger sides than Swansea.

Verdict: Away win Tottenham (2)

Best Odds: 8/11

Bookmaker: Victor Chandler