Tottenham Hotspur vs Monaco Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Tottenham Hotspur have finally made it back into Europe’s elite competitions after a five year absence. They didn’t even need to go through qualification on their road to the group stages, after finishing 3rd in the Premier League last season, although it could’ve been so much better for them.

They spent the majority of the season challenging Leicester at the top of the pile, but a late season collapse saw the eventual champions pull away at the top of the table and even allowed North London rivals Arsenal to pip them to the runners up spot.

The new season has started steadily for them, if not spectacular. They opened with a 1-1 draw at Everton before clinching a nervous 1-0 win over Crystal Palace. A 1-1 draw at home to Liverpool followed, but they came back after the international break with renewed vigour. On Saturday they hammered a dismal Stoke 4-0 away from home, with Heung-min Son netting twice and Harry Kane getting his first goal of the season.

Now Spurs’ attentions turn towards the Champions League group stages, where they face a difficult group consisting of Monaco, Bayer Leverkusen, and CSKA Moscow. It could’ve been harder for them, but the lack of any easily winnable games means that resting players in midweek is almost out of the question.

Monaco have started the new campaign phenomenally well. They failed to perform in the second half of last season and ended up finishing 3rd in Ligue 1 behind PSG and Lyon. They were actually almost out of sight of Lyon at one point in the season, but their miserable performance in the later stages saw the runners up gain ground.

Once again, the new season has started well for them. They knocked out Fenerbahce and Villarreal in the Champions League qualifying stages to reach the groups, but it’s their Ligue 1 performance which has really caught the eye. They beat Nantes 1-0 in the opener, but then extraordinarily managed to defeat the dominant PSG 3-1 in their second league match of the season. They built on this on Saturday with a 4-1 thrashing of Lille away from home.

This should be a very close match. Monaco have looked excellent so far this season and their back to back wins over PSG and Lille will have given them an enormous amount of confidence. Spurs haven’t been at their sharpest so far, but their performance at Stoke could have kick-started their campaign.

Both teams have managed to find the net in every one of their competitive games so far this season. Monaco and Spurs scored eight goals between them at the weekend, and with their strikers now being so high on confidence, I think odds of 19/20 for Both Teams to Score are excellent value for money. Overall I’m expecting a tight but attacking match, so I’m going for a high scoring 2-2 draw at huge odds of 18/1 for my correct score prediction.