Champions League Wednesday, Aug 25 I have a series play on Tottenham over Young Boys at -500 and thought it was some value at the time. Young Boys showed up in the first leg and Tottenham didn't. That being said, you can lay -3.80 on Tottenham to advance and when you look at the culminating factors behind the first leg victory by the Swiss side, Tottenham should progress through easily. A few factors which worked against the Spurs in the first leg and should work nicely this time around...
1. Their form was still in early season while the Swiss side had already played 7 club games at that point.
2. Their scheduling had them turn around and play Man City on Saturday at White Hart Lane and then run into a Swiss side which had been gunning for this matchup
3. The artificial pitch gave the Spurs fits as they conceded 3 goals to the home side in the first 30 minutes. Tottenham looked generally lost and outclassed before recovering to pick up two precious away goals
4. King, the best defender who has had chronic knee problems, was not there for the game. Harry Redknapp thought the astro turf pitch would be difficult and wanted his defensive leader to get a rest. This showed as Spurs lack of organization was evident to the point Benoit Assou-Ekouto (Spurs left back) was pulled in favor of Huddlestone in only the 36th minute...
Every part of the above metric is changed for the second leg of this series today.
-King will be in front of the net keeping Spurs' back line organzied
-White Hart Lane is a very difficult place to play and gives sides with much great talent than Young Boys problems
-The schedule now favors the Spurs as they played Saturday and have had 5 days of rest as opposed to 3 when they went on the road while Young Boys played on Sunday and now have to travel to England
- The Stakes couldn't be higher as as the team that wins this two-game series advances to the group stage of Champions League and picks up about $25 million in Champions League funding...
