Tottenham vs Gent Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Gent enjoyed a deserved and somewhat unexpected victory over Tottenham last week in the first leg of their Europa League clash. The only goal of the game was scored with half an hour remaining by French attacker Jeremy Perbet, and it leaves Spurs in quite a dire situation. They may only be a goal behind, but they don’t have an away goal to their name, which could cause a serious issue if Gent find the back of the net.

The hosts did bounce back from that midweek loss with a comfortable 3-0 win at Fulham in the FA Cup on Sunday, but they have only won three of their last seven games in all competitions and haven’t enjoyed the best of times at Wembley this season. Their three Champions League group games saw them lose to both Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen, before they finally got some points on the board against CSKA Moscow.

Tottenham have fallen down to 3rd in the Premier League as well, and they find themselves ten points adrift of leaders Chelsea. It looks like their Premier League title race is over, but they still need to focus on securing a top four position. Still, this will place more emphasis on the FA Cup and the Europa League as Mauricio Pocchettino goes on the hunt for silverware.

Gent followed their excellent victory up with a 1-1 draw at Standard Liege in the Belgian First Division, making it three wins, three draws, and just one defeat since they returned from the winter break. They remain in a very disappointing 8th position in the table though, outside the important top six that allows the chance for European qualification.

Away from home is where they have really struggled this season. They have won just two of their last 13 away days in all competitions and have lost seven of them. In the Europa League group stages they did manage to pick up four points on the road, but their 5-0 hammering at the hands of Shakhtar shows that they can be very vulnerable.

Spurs, meanwhile, have won their last ten games on home soil, and although this isn’t White Hart Lane, I think we can still expect a win from them. I doubt Pocchettino will risk not starting Christian Eriksen again, and we all saw the change he makes to that Spurs attack as he helped Harry Kane to his weekend hat trick at Fulham. With the Danish play-maker starting, odds of 4/6 for Harry Kane to Score Anytime look excellent value for our goalscorer predictions, with the English striker bagging 19 goals in all competitions this season.

On the balance of things I think Spurs can pull this one back. They have won six of their last nine home games by more than a single goal margin, and even in the relatively weak Belgian league, Gent have lost by more than one goal in four of their last 12 away games. This makes odds of 1.875 for a Spurs -1.5 Asian Handicap look good value for money, so I’m backing that alongside a 3-0 correct score predictions at 13/2.