Tottenham vs Charlton Athletic Prediction: Betting Tips & Odds

Tottenham and Charlton Athletic face off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday morning New Zealand time in the second round of the Carabao Cup. It’s a first meeting between these two London clubs since January 2011, when Spurs won 3-0 in the FA Cup third round.

In this Tottenham vs Charlton Athletic preview, I look at how both sides have started the season and why the gulf in quality might not be as wide as the odds suggest. I’ve found a BTTS angle above $3.00 for those after football tips this week.

Tottenham

Saturday’s 3-0 loss at Brentford was about as bad an opener as Roberto De Zerbi could have imagined. 

Spurs mustered just 0.47 xG across the whole match. Antonin Kinsky was at fault for two of the goals, parrying efforts back into danger, and the centre-back pairing of Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi never settled.

I’d expect heavy rotation here. Newcastle visit on Saturday and that fixture already feels like a must-win. Dominic Solanke, James Maddison and Mateus Fernandes all came off the bench at Brentford and should come in from the start. Rodrigo Bentancur too.

Around £237m has gone through the door this summer. Even a second-string Spurs lineup would include international-quality players. But cohesion is a different conversation entirely, and a Carabao Cup tie under the lights against a Championship side with confidence is exactly where that sort of disorganisation gets exposed.

Team News: Van de Ven, Porro, Sarr, Kulusevski, Xavi Simons and Odobert are all unavailable. Kudus is nearing a return but unlikely to feature here.

Predicted Lineup: Kinsky; Gray, van Hecke, Senesi, Udogie; Bentancur, Fernandes; Maddison, Bergvall, Tel; Solanke.

Charlton Athletic

Three competitive games this season, three wins for Charlton. 

Nathan Jones has Charlton in excellent form and their 2-1 victory at West Ham on Saturday was the standout result of Championship matchday two. Lloyd Jones scored with an acrobatic overhead kick inside seven minutes and Tyreece Campbell doubled the advantage before Taty Castellanos missed a stoppage-time penalty, hitting the right post.

I’m not backing them to win this outright, but I do think they’ll score. 

Campbell has scored in consecutive games and looks full of confidence. Sonny Carey is involved in everything going forward. And Okonkwo, who only joined on loan from Wrexham days before the West Ham game, produced a string of saves at the London Stadium.

This group won’t be intimidated by the venue. They went to a 62,000-seat London Stadium and outfought a West Ham squad full of Premier League quality. Another London away day against a disjointed home side won’t faze them.

Team News: No major injury concerns reported. Jones may rest one or two with Preston at home on Saturday.

Predicted Lineup: Okonkwo; Ramsay, Koumetio, Jones, Bell; Coventry, Chalobah; Campbell, Carey, Grant; Leaburn.

• First meeting between the clubs since Spurs won 3-0 in the FA Cup third round in January 2011.
• Charlton have won all three competitive games this season, scoring seven and conceding three.
• Spurs recorded 0.47 xG in their 3-0 Premier League defeat at Brentford.
• Both teams scored in Charlton’s last two Championship outings.
• Charlton beat Cheltenham 3-1 away in the first round of this competition.

Spurs will go through. Even with rotation, the talent gap is too wide for Charlton to overcome across 90 minutes - and several of the players coming in will be desperate to impress after being left out of the starting XI at Brentford.

But I’m not expecting Charlton to roll over. Campbell and Carey have been too sharp in front of goal to suddenly go cold, and Spurs’ defensive issues are not going away overnight. Kinsky looked nervy at Brentford and the back line hasn’t played together long enough to develop any real understanding. I can see Charlton nicking one, especially if they get on the front foot early.

A 3-1 home win feels about right. If you’re following this one through live betting sites, Charlton scoring first wouldn’t surprise me at all.

Tottenham to Win and Both Teams to Score @ $3.20

Spurs should have too much for a Championship side, even in a rotated lineup. Solanke and Maddison give them plenty of firepower up front, and a number of new signings will be looking to prove a point.

Campbell and Carey have been clinical for Charlton across the opening three fixtures, and Spurs’ defensive frailties at Brentford - where Kinsky parried two efforts back into the danger zone - give Charlton a clear route to goal. 

At $3.20, combining the likely result with what I see as a very probable Charlton goal is good value on the best legal betting sites in New Zealand.