Leeds vs. Tottenham: FA Cup Betting Preview

Tottenham and Leeds United shared four goals in their FA Cup fourth round clash ten days ago and the pair meet again on Wednesday to settle it.

Spurs could well have been out of sight inside the opening half hour at White Hart Lane but an inspired performance from Casper Ankergren in the Leeds goal kept them at bay and a Jermaine Beckford penalty in injury time eventually forced a replay.

There were plenty of chances in the original tie, Beckford’s fourth and fifth FA Cup goals of the season cancelling out strikes from Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko for the hosts, but replays often fail to live up to expectations and I don’t anticipate it being quite so open this time.

While Harry Redknapp’s men put four past lowly Peterborough in round three Tottenham’s last seven Premier League matches have all featured two goals or less and Wednesday’s opponents are usually pretty tight at the back.

Leeds were excellent at Old Trafford when shocking Manchester United 1-0 in the previous round and the Elland Road club have conceded just eight all season on home soil.

While Leeds sit second in League One, over 40 places behind Spurs in the English ladder, their performances in the FA Cup this season have defied such a lowly status and in Beckford they possess a striker of genuine quality. He chose to remain at the Yorkshire outfit despite plenty of transfer speculation linking him with a move away and must prove the main threat to the Premier League side once more.

Beckford’s namesake Jermain Defoe is likely to partner Crouch in attack for the visitors but despite any number of goal threats on display I think this will be relatively cagey early on.

Spurs have been very poor on their travels of late, a 1-1 draw at Birmingham City on Saturday extending their current run to just one win in eight away from home, and must once again cope without the injured Aaron Lennon.

Leeds will fancy their chances of causing an upset in front what is certain to be a hostile home crowd and one goal from Beckford, who has 24 already this season, could well be enough to force at least extra time.

At a freely available even money I have to be with the unders in a match which is one not to be missed. With Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool all early casualties, this is a terrific opportunity for Spurs to enjoy an extended run in the premier domestic cup competition but it could be hard work for Redknapp’s men and a Leeds win would not be the biggest surprise of the season.

2pts Back Under 2.50 Goals (Leeds vs. Tottenham) @ 2.00 (various)