Football betting tips: Monday Night Football
1pt Murillo to score anytime at 20/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power)
1pt Murillo to score from outside the box at 70/1 (William Hill)
"You're going to have to put up with me for a bit longer."
A defiant Ange Postecoglou rightly revelled in his team's 1-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday, a victory that sent them into a Europa League semi-final with Bodo/Glimt and made them outright favourites to lift the trophy.
As their Premier League season peters out, Tottenham are 15th with five games to play, it's impossible to predict what line-up will be named for the visit of a Nottingham Forest team who remain very much in the fight for a top-five place.
Back-to-back defeats have come at exactly the wrong time for Nuno Espirito Santo's side though, so they'll be hoping Spurs' focus has indeed slipped when the teams step on to the pitch on Easter Monday night.
What are the best bets?
Because of that uncertainty I'm steering clear of anything 1X2-related and returning to a bet I have backed on and off all season. Could it just be that it's been building to this, all along?
Almost exactly a year ago, Forest centre-back MURILLO came within inches of scoring from 73 yards at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The eccentric defender has become more targeted with his attempts this season, while still managing to have the odd effort from the halfway line and beyond.
He's gone mightily close to SCORING FROM OUTSIDE THE BOX on multiple occasions most recently hammering an effort against the crossbar in stoppage time against Aston Villa.
It is an inevitability that the Brazilian finds the net from the distance, and at 70/1 to do so against a Tottenham team whose priorities lie elsewhere, we should back him to finally reap his long overdue rewards.
Murillo is also 20/1 TO SCORE ANYTIME which we must take too alongside the more outrageous selection.
- CLICK HERE to back Murillo to score anytime with Sky Bet
- CLICK HERE to back Murillo to score from outside the box with Sky Bet
While his centre-back partner Nikola Milenkovic has been more prolific, scoring four times so far this term, Murillo has managed to find the net once himself and has had a total of 23 attempts on goal.
Team news
Tottenham are likely to be without James Maddison after he was injured winning the decisive penalty against Frankfurt. Heung-min Son remains out and Radu Dragusin is a long-term absentee.
Forest duo Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi are both doubtful.
Predicted line-ups
Tottenham: Vicario; Gray, Danso, Davies, Spence; Kulusevski, Bissouma, Sarr; Odobert, Solanke, Tel.
Forest: Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Murillo, Moreno; Anderson, Dominguez; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood.
Match facts
- Tottenham have won each of their last three home league games against Nottingham Forest, having won just one of their previous 11 against them prior (D2 L8).
- Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 win in the reverse fixture ended a six-game losing streak against Spurs in the Premier League. They last did the league double over them in the 1996-97 campaign.
- Spurs have lost their last two Premier League games played on Easter Monday, with both of these defeats coming at home – 1-2 vs Manchester United in 2006 and 1-2 vs Norwich in 2012.
- Nottingham Forest have lost just two of their last 35 league games played on Easter Monday (W21 D12), while in the top-flight they’re unbeaten in 16 (W13 D3) since a 1-0 loss at Chelsea in 1966.
- Tottenham Hotspur have lost 17 Premier League matches in 2024-25, their most in one season since the 2003-04 campaign (19). Manager Ange Postecoglou is one of three Spurs bosses to lose 17+ games in a season, along with Osvaldo Ardiles in 1993-94 (19) and Gerry Francis in 1996-97 (18).
- Nottingham Forest have lost each of their last two Premier League matches, having won three in a row beforehand. Only once under Nuno Espirito Santo have they suffered three defeats in a row, doing so in February and March last season.
- Since Tottenham hammered Manchester City 4-0 on 23 November, only Ipswich Town (13), Leicester City (8) and Southampton (6) have picked up fewer points than Spurs (18), who have lost 12 out of 20 games since beating the reigning champions (W5 D3).
- Tottenham Hotspur have lost 16 of their last 20 Premier League matches against teams starting the day in the top half of the table (W3 D1) and have lost eight out of nine (D1) since winning 4-0 against 2nd place Man City in November.
- 19-year-old Mathys Tel has scored in each of his last two Premier League appearances for Tottenham Hotspur. No teenager has ever scored in three in a row for Spurs, while only three non-English teenagers have done so overall – Robbie Keane in January 2000 for Coventry, Nicolas Anelka twice during 1998-99 for Arsenal and Romelu Lukaku in March 2013 for West Brom.
- Jota Silva has scored in each of his last two away Premier League games for Nottingham Forest, both as a substitute; all three of his goals in the competition have been off the bench, scoring those from 13 shots, while in five games as a starter he’s had eight shots without finding the net.
Odds correct at 1550 BST (20/04/25)
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