Tottenham backed to give Benfica a White Hart Lane lashing

Like a turkey waking up on the first day of December, Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood must know he is living on borrowed time at White Hart Lane, but don’t count against him going out with a bang in the Europa League.

The Lilywhites head into the home leg of this tie with Benfica as 13/10 favourites for victory, following an impressive string of results at home in continental competition.

A run of nine wins and two draws over their last 11 as hosts in the Europa League is notable enough, but Spurs have been particularly impressive over the current campaign, winning each of the five matches they have played in north London.

The Portuguese head into the game in solid form though and the 21/10 on Benfica claiming a win at White Hart Lane shouldn’t be sniffed at, given that Jorge Jesus’ team are on a run of seven straight victories.

Away form has been fundamental to this success, with the Glorioso claiming four wins and four straight clean sheets on the road, which makes the 12/5 on a Benfica clean sheet a tempting option, while a draw is priced at 23/10.

But such a selection would wilfully ignore the attacking prowess demonstrated by Spurs in this year’s competition, with the Lilywhites proving prolific at White Hart Lane where they have averaged exactly three goals a game over their last five fixtures.

It makes the 9/2 on Tottenham scoring over 2.5 goals – as they did last time out at home against Dnipro –  a great bet, though if they are to hit those kinds of heights they will need Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado to be on song.

The Togo man was Spurs’ saviour against the Ukrainians, with a second-half double that salvaged the tie and while the 11/8 on him scoring any time is a great price, Ladbrokes is also offering 6/1 on him grabbing a brace.

Soldado, meanwhile, has proven slightly more prolific in Europe than in the Premier League this term with five goals in five games and after finding the net in recently against a Cardiff, could be a good shout to score anytime at 11/8.

Don’t bet against Benfica finding the net though – Spurs have scored and conceded in each of their last three home wins in the Europa League, and 3/4 on both teams scoring is not to be sniffed at.

The Eagles may be flying at the moment, but turkey Tim Sherwood and his in-form strikers look ready to shoot them down.

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

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