EPL Week 3: Coutinho & Kane tips for Tottenham vs. Liverpool

Saturday, August 27 from 9.30pm AEST at White Hart Lane. Watch on Optus.

Table position:
Tottenham Hotspur: Seventh
Liverpool: 11th

Season record:
Tottenham Hotspur: 1-1-0
Liverpool: 1-0-1

Win-Draw-Win odds:
Tottenham Hotspur: $2.35 @ WilliamHill.com.au
Draw: $3.40
Liverpool: $2.90

TOTTENHAM’S emergence as a force in the mid-2000s has had a profound impact on Liverpool’s ability as they add another finger in the very small English Premier League pie.

And so the two clubs go into battle again, both seeking their second win of the recently commenced Premier League season.

Tottenham is the favourite for this match and rightly so. It was the more successful of the two teams last season and has the more polished lineup.

It is also coming off a morale-boosting 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, following a 1-1 stalemate against Everton in the opening match of the season.

The weekend’s win was all thanks to Victor Wanyama’s first goal in white, the big man heading home in there 83rd minute, after his side saw several chances go begging, due to an inspired performance by Palace keeper Wayne Hennessy.

It was all in vein though, as Tottenham went away the winner.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino was all smiles after the match, happy with the efforts of Wanyama and the new partnership of Harry Kane and Vincent Janssen up front.

“I am very happy with victory because I was a player, and I know it is very important to score and feel the love from your supporters, like Vincent as well,” Pochettino said.

“He can feel the love from our supporters.

“This is fantastic to help them, to be in a good place.

“I am very happy for them.

“They showed it’s very good for the future of the team.”

Kane still does not have a goal to his name this season, but it could be a similar thing to last season – start slow, then fly home. He bagged 25 Premier League goals after scoring just once in his first 13 appearances.

That’s not going to happen again this season and we expect him to open his account at home against Liverpool ($5.50 with WilliamHill.com.au).

Liverpool backed up its ridiculous 4-3 goal fest against Arsenal with an absolute stinker against Burnley, losing for the first time in the Premier League to the minnows.

Sam votes and Andre Gray both slotted their first goals in the Premier League to break the lacklustre Reds’ hearts.

In a remarkable statistic, Liverpool had 26 shots at the Burnley goal and a bizarre 80 per cent of the possession, but only one of those shots were at the target.

The side had 1032 touches between, but their three main forwards, Roberto Firmino, Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi found it just 10 times. No wonder they did not score.

“It is not a defending problem, it is an offensive problem,” manager Jurgen Klopp lamented.

“We lose the ball at the wrong moment and they go click – in the net.

“These mistakes should not happen any more.

“We put ourselves under pressure.

“Is it fair that they had two good moments and we had 500?

“No, but it is 2-0.

“It is our job to get the result we deserved and obviously today we deserved a defeat.”

It was a far cry from the week before, when the Reds hammered home four goals against a leaky Arsenal, while conceding three of their own. Philippe Coutinho scored a brace, and both Adam Lallana and Sadio Mane got themselves on the sheet in that win, but it posed many questions of the defence that failed to be answered against Burnley.

The loss, of course, spurred calls for Liverpool to spend in the transfer window, something Klopp doesn’t appear to willing to do.

“I really wait for the day when finally the transfer window is closed, because I can’t believe how obsessed you all are with this,” he told reporters.

“We play at Burnley, we have 81 percent possession but cannot score a goal so now you can say we need another striker if you want.

“It makes sense that we think about these things apart from the results.”

Coutinho is perhaps the most inconsistent star in the Premier League, sublime one week and almost invisible the next. And that is exactly how he has started this season.

But a good game is always around the corner for this man and he is our pick to turn his form quickly and stake first for the Reds ($9 with WilliamHill.com.au).

First goal scorer tips

Tottenham: Harry Kane ($5.50 with WilliamHill.com.au)

Liverpool: Philippe Coutinho ($9 with WilliamHill.com.au)

Possible teams:

Tottenham: Michel VORM, Kyle WALKER, Toby ALDERWEIRELD, Jan VERTONGHEN, Danny ROSE, Eric DIER, Victor WANYAMA, Erik LAMELA, Delle ALLI, Christian ERIKSEN, Harry KANE

Liverpool: Simon MIGNOLET, Nathaniel CLYNE, Dejan LOVREN, Ragnar KLAVAN, James MILNER, Jordan HENDERSON, Emre CAN, Adam LALLANA, Roberto FIRMINO, dANIEL STURRIDGE, Philippe COUTINHO

Match predictions

Match result: Tottenham to win ($2.35 with WilliamHill.com.au)

Correct match score: Tottenham to win 3-1 ($17 with WilliamHill.com.au)

Total match goals: Over 2.5 ($1.70 with WilliamHill.com.au)

Given Liverpool’s non-existent defence – The Reds have conceded five goals in their opening two matches – and a solid, if not spectacular attack force, this match up certainly has a few goals written all over it. Just not that many for the Reds. Tottenham to take this one easily and continue that winning feeling.