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Boxing Brentford vs Tottenham Bet Builder Tips, Opta Stats, Player Props: Mbeumo Features Amidst Bavarian Calls
Ange Postecoglou’s tenure in North London begins with a trip across the capital with Brentford v Tottenham at 14:00 in the Premier League on Sunday.
The division’s perennial improvers provide a stern test for Spurs’ new supremo, who will be looking to put a turbulent summer of speculation behind him.
Bundesliga has beckoned for Harry Kane in the off-season, and it’s still not concrete whether Bayern Munich’s advances have proved fruitful.
While Sunday’s visitors worry about keeping their talisman, the hosts are without theirs for the rest of the calendar year.
It will be interesting to see how Thomas Frank adapts without his main man.
Bet Builder odds: 8.00
England, Premier League, August 13th, 14:00 (UK)
Odds via bet365 as at 14:00, August 9th 2023. Odds may now differ.
Brentford vs Tottenham OPTA Stats: A red-hot Spurs scoring run
- Ange Postecoglou is the first Australian to manage in the Premier League; his side’s four pre-season friendlies have seen 23 goals.
- Tottenham have scored at least once in each of their last 12 Premier League games (24 goals in total) since a 1-0 loss at Wolves in March. However, the Lilywhites have only managed to keep one clean sheet in their last 13 matches (1-0 vs Crystal Palace).
- Harry Kane equalled his career-best EPL tally with 30 goals last season.
- Kane has never averaged fewer than 0.47 goals per 90 in the top flight, which translates to a price of 2.13.
- The cards should fly from the off here. In the Championship, 24/62 dished out in MD1 came in the first half.
- Brentford won five of their last six Premier League games in 2022-23 (L1), including the last three in a row. They’ve not won four consecutive league games as a top-flight club since March 1939 (5 in a row).
See here for a rundown of the most intriguing stats in our weekly partnership with OPTA: OPTA Stats x bettingexpert Match Day One Preview.
Brentford vs Tottenham: Mbeumo to pull their weight
Bryan Mbeumo Over 2.5 Shots
Toney’s suspension has seen Bryan Mbeumo ushered from the supporting cast to centre stage.Up until the back end of last season, the Cameroon frontman’s Premier League assist tally trumped his goalscoring total, depicting his role as a provider rather well.
Toney’s suspension allowed him to step out of the shadows.
The Bee’s talismans suspension allowed another one to emerge.
In the three top-flight matches without Toney last season, Mbeumo hit a staggering 13 shots, seven of which hit the target, and three of those found the back of the net.
In short, he went from six goals in 35 EPL appearances, a Gp90 of 0.20, to three in three, a Gp90 of 1.01.
His anytime goalscorer price appeals at 3.50, but I am going to be a little more preservative and tout over 2.5 shots.
He racked up seven without Toney and covered this line twice over in two of those three games.
Both Teams To Score
Goals have been rife in Tottenham’s pre-season games, and if they are anything to go off, we should be in for a treat on Sunday.
Yes, I know, pre-season counts for nothing and should be disregarded, but I think there are clues in Spurs’ results as to how the infancy of their campaign is going to play out.
There were five goals when Spurs played West Ham in July and six goals in each of their three games against Lion City Sailors (I know), Shakhtar Donetsk and Barcelona.
I think there are some teething issues as Postecoglou looks to try and implement his style, which should be expected.
The former Celtic boss plays high-octane attacking football, which orientates entirely by having possession of the ball.
When you consider that since Mauricio Pochettino left in 2019 following a Champions League final showing, Spurs have grown progressively more defensive and counter-attack minded, it was always going to be a struggle for the Aussie boss to orchestrate a seismic shift in style over the summer.
This is why I think both teams will score on Sunday.
Over 1.5 First Half Cards
If you read my Burnley vs Manchester City preview, you will know that I expect this weekend’s Premier League action to see a glut of added time and cards.
As I write, the Premier League is days from the beginning, so I could be way off the mark, but if the football league’s opening weekend was anything to go off, there should be cards galore.
The new rules put in place in this campaign are set to eliminate any time-wasting antics and ensure a match is played out in its entirety.
This has seen a clamp down on any time wasting, poor sportsmanship and appears to have generally lowered the threshold as to what constitutes a booking.
In the opening round of Championship fixtures, ⅔ of the games saw at least one first-half card, with 38.7% of the 62 cards dished out coming before the interval.
Half of the matches saw at least two first-half cards, and three saw five.
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