Tottenham v Everton: Injury-hit Spurs may have to settle for point

Two defeats from their last three Premier League outings has left 6/5 Tottenham desperate for home victory over Everton, in order to reinvigorate their top-four hopes.

But their task has been made a whole lot more difficult by a wave of injuries to key players, with Gareth Bale, William Gallas, Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe all ruled out for the hosts.

Bale’s absence obviously appears most significant, and given that Spurs have failed to win a game in which he did not score before New Year’s Day, many a punter will side with the visitors at 11/5.

Given the magnitude of this fixture though, and the fact that Andre Villas-Boas still has one of the strongest squads in the top flight at his disposal, a draw should not be beyond them at 23/10.

And it is worth betting on both teams finding the net in a stalemate in order to obtain added value.

Such an instance has occurred the past two times these teams have finished level when opposing each other, and is priced at 31/10 here.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that 1-1 has been a popular scoreline in fixtures involving both these sides this season.

Spurs have finished level via this result on four occasions, with the Toffees playing out five 1-1 draws, and this was also the prevailing scoreline the last time these teams could not be separated.

As such, the 6/1 odds regarding another repeat are likely to be snapped up, whilst it is 6/4 that the pair evenly share two goals at any point within the 90 minutes.

Meanwhile, with punters’ pal Bale ruled out, a look elsewhere is necessary when placing a first scorer bet.

Emmanuel Adebayor has been out of form for Spurs this season, but did manage to bag in his last appearance in the Europa League, and looks the hosts’ only viable striking option in this match.

He is a big 6/1 to break the deadlock with his third career goal against Everton here.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.