You Bet | Now or never for Tottenham as Chelsea look to put Premier League title race to bed
The Spurs must prevail in a difficult home fixture against Arsenal, while Chelsea’s clash with Everton presents their toughest remaining match
This weekend might be the last chance to set up a grandstand finish in the English Premier League title race, with leaders Chelsea facing their toughest remaining match away to Everton on Sunday. Unfortunately for Tottenham, who trail by four points with five games to play, they also face a difficult fixture at home to Arsenal.
Home advantage means Tottenham have the better percentage chance of success among the two title contenders, as the betting odds confirm, but their need to win is greater than Chelsea’s and a 13th home league victory on the trot will be far from easy in the fiery atmosphere of the north London derby.
For the first time in many years, Tottenham are the best team in north London at the moment but derbies are often tight and four of the last five league meetings were draws (the other was a home win for Tottenham).
Interestingly, Arsenal have the knack of scoring first in derbies (five times in the last seven league meetings).
Tottenham will boost their chance if they can turn that trend around, but either way their greater resilience is a big plus.
Everton ought to give Chelsea a good test, but there is still the painful memory of their 5-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge in the reverse fixture and that is not the only time Ronald Koeman’s team have been flaky against big opposition, as they also lost both derbies against Liverpool this season.