Our next opponents: Tottenham Hotspur

With the ongoing construction of the new White Hart Lane, Tottenham are playing their European home games at Wembley Stadium this term. The first match in front of an 85,000 crowd ended in defeat against AS Monaco. Spurs bounced back with a 1-0 win at CSKA Moscow. We take a closer look of the Werkself’s opponents ahead of Tuesday’s encounter at the BayArena (20.45 CET).

Position

According to a recent Sun headline their current situation is “spurfect”. After an impressive third-place finish last season Spurs are again amongst the leading pack in the Premier League and they recently made the headlines with an outstanding 2-0 win at home to Manchester City. Tottenham are the first side to beat Pep Guardiola’s team and they are now just one point behind league-leaders City. That did not change at the weekend with Spurs drawing 1-1 at West Bromwich Albion and City sharing the points at home to Everton by the same score.

Personnel

Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea as known worldwide as big clubs in England but the past decade has seen Spurs join the inner circle of the top English teams. Tottenham have not finished lower than sixth in the past seven seasons – and that has been achieved with the departure of top players like Gareth Bale and Luka Modric on an almost annual basis. This season is different: Stars, led by Harry Kane, have stayed and the squad has been strengthened with the arrival of Moussa Sissoko, Victor Wanyama and Vincent Janssen.

Potential

No team in England plays such an impressive pressing game as the side coached by Mauricio Pochettino. Dele Alli, who scored the last-minute leveller at West Brom on Saturday, Christian Eriksen and Co. not only present huge problems for the best teams but also live up to the name of the club as Hotspurs. The club, founded in 1882, was named after Sir Henry Percy, an English nobleman, who earned the nickname of Harry Hotspur in the 14th century.

Problems

Harry Kane is injured. Last season’s Premier League top scorer is currently recovering from an ankle injury and it remains to be seen if he will able to play on Tuesday night. In his absence the former Bayer 04 forward Heung-Min Son has stepped up to the plate scoring four goals for Spurs. The Tottenham defence has been solid although they have appeared susceptible at set pieces at times. And the jury is out on how Spurs will cope over the course of the current campaign with the demands of the race for the title coupled with the Champions League matches.

Prediction

“Tip, Top, Tottenham Hotspur – the greatest team of the year!” Every Spurs fan knows that refrain. The legendary tune dates back to 1961 when Tottenham won the league and cup double. Since then the North London club has not repeated that success so there is a huge desire to lift the league title for the first team in 56 years. The chances are higher now than they have been in many a season.