Spurs returned to the right track with back to back wins over Swansea and Newcastle, and they will see the home clash against relegation-threatened Burnley as a great opportunity to further close the gap behind Champions League positions. The Clarets have shown a great deal of improvement of late, but poor away form remains a major issue.

Spurs back in business

With quite a few new players joining in the summer and the hectic schedule in the opening exchanges making life difficult for coach Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentine hasn’t quite managed to get the maximum out of his players. However, the manager’s gamble with home-grown players Harry Kane and Ryan Mason paid off big time as they quickly developed into key footballers for the White Hart Lane outfit, while there have been even more positives for Spurs of late. Key midfielder Christian Eriksen has finally rediscovered his top form, while the return of Kyle Walker served as another major boost. As a result, Tottenham did really well to defeat very good Swansea side at Liberty Stadium before hammering injury-hit Newcastle to reach the Capital One Cup semi-final. Spurs now play host to struggling Burnley as they hope to further improve their Champions League hopes and given that the confidence is finally back at White Hart Lane, Tottenham can be trusted to record another comfortable win.

Mauricio Pochettino has absolutely no injury worries at the moment, with Emmanuel Adebayor back in training after returning from a personal leave.

Burnley out of the bottom three

Newly-promoted Burnley had a difficult start to the new Premier League campaign as they were unable to record a win in their first ten league fixtures, although Sean Dyche’s side have done well to overcome all the worries and revive their survival bid. Back to back wins over Hull City and Stoke served as a major confidence boost, while the latest triumph over out-of-form Southampton finally saw the Clarets leave the relegation zone. The problem is that Burnley now face an incredibly difficult festive schedule seeing as how they host Liverpool and play Tottenham, Manchester City and Newcastle on the road in the space of some ten days. And with team’s away form hardly impressive this season, this could be a start of a new disappointing run for the Turf Moor outfit. Burnley were soundly beaten by West Brom, Arsenal and QPR on the travels, while failing to score in five of seven away matches, so you will forgive me for doubting their chances of stopping in-form Tottenham in their tracks.

Important attacker Sam Vokes will not be in contention despite stepping up recovery from a knee problem, while Matt Taylor and Stephen Ward are out as well.

Verdict

Successive wins over Swansea and Newcastle will do wonders for the player’s confidence and with Mauricio Pochettino having fully fit squad to pick from, Spurs look set for an easy home win. Burnley have largely struggled on the road this season and I just cannot see them getting anything from White Hart Lane.

Top pick: Home win   1.53 (8/15) @ Coral

Alternative pick 1: Tottenham/Tottenham   2.25 (5/4) @ Betfred

Alternative pick 2: Tottenham with -1.5 AH   2.45 (29/20) @ Unibet