Capital One Cup: Tough to look beyond Spurs and Chelsea double
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Everybody loves an underdog, but it looks increasingly likely that March’s Capital One Cup final will be contested by Chelsea and Spurs, leaving currently unfancied pair Liverpool and Sheffield United out in the cold.
Jose Mourinho’s Premier League leaders have won three on the spin against the Reds since the Special One’s return to Stamford Bridge, with a couple of Anfield triumphs claimed over the past nine months.
The Blues’ 2-1 victory on Merseyside back in November was Mourinho’s eighth top-flight win in 10 attempts against Liverpool. They’re 6/5 to continue their dominance over Brendan Rodgers’ men under the Portuguese, which should be snapped up.
Sheffield Utd’s incredible cup form since Nigel Clough took over as manager just over a year ago will persuade many punters to get behind meaty 8/1 odds about a Blades White Hart Lane win, but caution is urged ahead of this fixture.
United have lost just twice in 21 FA Cup/Capital One Cup/Johnstone’s Paint Trophy matches with the son of ‘Old big ‘ed’ in charge, but their best result of the lot was arguably a 1-0 win at home to Southampton last month.
Ronald Koeman’s side were in the midst of a five-game losing streak, low on confidence and struggling to put out any fit senior midfielders, with the likes of 19-year-old Matt Targett in from the off.
Clough’s giant killers aren’t in receipt of such advantages at White Hart Lane, where Mauricio Pochettino’s side are unbeaten in nine all-competition games, winning seven of those.
The Lilywhites are missing Federico Fazio and Ryan Mason through injury, plus Nabil Bentaleb to the African Cup of Nations, but understudies Eric Dier and Benjamin Stambouli both performed admirably in their side’s 2-1 downing of Sunderland last time out in the Premier League.
With Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen, Moussa Dembele, Christian Eriksen and Nacer Chadli all tapping into rich veins of form, not to mention 18-goal striker Harry Kane, 1/3 looks about right for the home win.
We recommend you combine Chelsea and Spurs in a double and lump on at just under 2/1.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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