Bobby Thomas Betting Tips & Predictions

I was really impressed with Sidiki Cherif on his Premier League debut, and backed him to have a shot on target against Newcastle at evens on his Premier League debut.

He had three shots overall in that game, seeing two of those efforts find the target. He was such a handful away from the shots as well, winning a penalty as well as having five touches in the opposition box.

Coventry will be limited to attacks in transition here, but the good news for Frank Lampard’s side is that they face a Tottenham side who struggle with turnovers - often being punished as a result of their centre backs being out of position when the ball is turned over.

Sherif was signed from Fenerbahce over the summer, he hasn’t got a massive sample size at any club as he’s only 19 - but did score two goals across his seven starts for the Super Lig club last season, registering nine efforts on target (1.26 per 90).

This is an angle that I’ve come back to throughout the season so far with Van Hecke’s natural ability to win fouls pairing up well with the style of play that De Zerbi demands of Tottenham.

Van Hecke sees more of the ball than nearly any other Tottenham player. He averages 91.7 touches per 90, as well as 70.8 successful passes per 90. 

The key with Van Hecke, is that 20.8 of these passes are line breaking passes - the highest average of any player in the Premier League. He also maintained an average of 1.21 fouls won per 90 in the Premier League last season, showing a consistency with this part of his game.

This makes Van Hecke a target, as he is basically the source of Tottenham’s initial build up play - which actually has been quite good, it’s the second part where they have struggled.

Van Hecke has won six fouls across his six starts in the Premier League this season (1.00 per 90), and is lining up against a Coventry side who are averaging 10.5 fouls committed per game in the Premier League this season.

Bobby Thomas has been an important figure at the back for Coventry in the early weeks of the season, and has shown a decent knack for winning fouls - drawing at least one in four of his last five matches.

I’m keen to back Thomas to be fouled again here due to his expected clash with Solanke, who has committed four fouls across his three starts in the Premier League this season (1.37 per 90). 

Solanke regularly gets into a battle with the opposition centre backs, with Thomas likely to be his direct opponent as the central centre back in Coventry’s back three. Solanke also averaged 1.08 fouls committed per 90 across 11 starts in the Premier League last season.

Thomas has won multiple fouls in two of his last five matches as well, so there’s even the opportunity to test slightly higher lines with the Coventry centre back - who maintained an average of 0.77 fouls won per 90 in the Championship last season.

I think it’s fair to say that Tottenham will probably have to go in for a new keeper at some point over the next few transfer windows, Vicario left during the summer after a steady decline in performances and Kinsky hasn’t been much better so far this season.

He has, however, been called into action 15 times across his six starts in the Premier League this campaign (2.50 per 90), with Tottenham’s wider defensive structure and tactical outlook seeing the keeper face 25 shots and an xGOT of 7.25.

Kinsky has had to make 3+ saves in each of Tottenham’s last three Premier League matches, which included a man of the match performance against Everton at home which was a game that saw him keep one his two clean sheets so far this season.