Tottenham Hotspur host Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday night.
Spurs go into the match having won their last three Premier League fixtures, whereas Dortmund haven’t won in their previous three outings in all competitions.
However, Dortmund are top of the Bundesliga table, five points clear of second-placed Bayern Munich. For Spurs, they will have to go into this match without the services of key stars such as Harry Kane and Dele Alli.
Read on for Tottenham Hotspur vs Borussia Dortmund team news, predictions, stats and TV channel info.
When is Tottenham v Dortmund?
Competition: Champions League
Venue: Wembley Stadium
Date: Wednesday, 13 February
Kick-off: 8:00 PM GMT
Match preview
For Spurs, this fixture will be a challenging one. They have been without both Kane and Alli for a considerable time now as both England stars are sidelined with respective injuries.
That hasn’t stopped Spurs from producing some good results. Losing their first two games without the England pair – in the semi-final of the Laegue Cup against Chelsea and in the FA Cup fourth round against Crystal Palace days later – Mauricio Pochettino’s side have gone on to record some vital victories across the past few weeks.
A big plus for Spurs is the poor performances from Dortmund across recent times.
Clear at the top of the Bundesliga, Dortmund’s form in both the league and cup has seen their lead at the top of the Bundesliga narrowed to just five points and seen them exit the DFB Cup third round on penalties at the hands of Werder Bremen.
Disappointing draws against both Eintracht and Hoffenheim, with the latter seeing a 3-0 lead slip, will not fill the Germans with total confidence as they head to England’s capital to face Spurs.
It could be argued that this clash isn’t coming at an ideal time for either side but the eventual winner could see their season burst back into life.
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Where can I watch live?
UK residents can watch Spurs vs Dortmund live on BT Sport 2, channel 414 for Sky TV customers and channel 528 for Virgin Media users. BT Sport subscribers can also watch the game online at sport.bt.com and via their BT Sport app.
No Kane and Alli = Son?
The injuries to Kane and Alli came at the worst possible time for Pochettino and Spurs. The north London club were contesting in four competitions before they lost both of their England internationals.
Their influence is incomparable; between them they have scored 27 goals in all competitions for Spurs – 20 for Kane and seven for Alli – with four of those coming in the Champions League.
The biggest plus point for Spurs is the fantastic form of Son Heung-min in the absence of the English duo. The 26-year-old has been electric for Spurs this season, scoring 15 goals in all competitions including 11 in his last 13 Premier League games.
With Fernando Llorente failing to fire in the goals on a regular basis, it’ll be up to the South Korean to find the gaps in the Dortmund defence and put them to the sword.
Will Sancho prove his worth on English soil?
If you haven’t heard about Jadon Sancho’s impressive form for Dortmund this season then let us politely remind you.
The youngster has torn up the German division this season and established himself not only as one of the most talented attacking players of his age, but also earned himself a call-up into Gareth Southgate’s England set-up.
In 21 Bundesliga games, Sancho has scored seven goals and assisted nine times, meaning he has averaged a direct involvement in a goal every 1.31 games so far this season.
He will be key in infiltrating Tottenham’s defence but he almost let them off without entering the country, leaving his passport at home en-route to the airport!
Will last season’s exit haunt Spurs?
This time last year, Spurs went into the Champions League round-of-16 knowing they had to get past Italian and European giants Juventus.
After securing a creditable draw away in Italy – where two early Gonzalo Higuain goals were cancelled out by both Kane and Christian Eriksen – Spurs went into the second leg slight favourites.
Things seemed to be going to plan in the second 90, with Son scoring in the 39th minute to put Spurs 3-2 up on aggregate. However, a quick fire double in the space of three minutes from Higuain and Paulo Dybala saw Spurs fall behind.
Failing to get past Juventus – who defensively on the evening were fantastic – Spurs crashed out of the competition looking like a side who lacked real experience of what of takes to progress to the later stages of the competition.
Now Dortmund stand in their way, it’ll be interesting to see what lessons have been learnt from a squad who hasn’t drastically changed since last season’s campaign.
Head-to-head
These two sides have only played each other four times in their history, with all those matches coming in recent European clashes.
Spurs have won two Champions League clashes while Dortmund have triumphed twice in the Europa League. The most recent meeting was in last season’s Champions League campaign, in a match that ended in Tottenham’s favour, with goals from Kane and Son securing a 2-1 win in Germany.
Tottenham wins: 2 Draws: 0 Dortmund wins: 2
Team news
As stated above, both Kane and Alli will be unavailable to utilise in Wednesday night’s fixture.
Absent from Tottenham’s 3-1 Premier League victory over Leicester City at the weekend, midfielder Eric Dier should be able to shake off an illness to return to the Spurs squad.
In that Leicester match, Danny Rose picked up a slight shin injury and will not start the match. Fellow left-back Ben Davies has been absent for four games with a groin injury and will miss out once again.
For Dortmund, they are without some key players for this outing including classy playmaker Marco Reus, who missed the side’s 3-3 draw with Hoffenhiem at the weekend with a thigh injury.
Paco Alcacer – who has impressed from the bench this season with 12 goals – will miss out with a shoulder injury, as will both Lukasz Piszczek and Julian Weigl who are suffering from the flu and a foot injury respectively.
Spurs predicted XI: Lloris, Trippier, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Winks, Sissoko, Dier, Eriksen, Son, Llorente.
Dortmund predicted XI: Burki, Schmelzer, Toprak, Diallo, Hakimi, Delaney, Witsel, Sancho, Pulisic, Guerreiro, Gotze.
Squawka prediction
Spurs are in decent form at the moment but may find things a little tougher against Dortmund this Wednesday evening.
Both sides will need to provide strong defensive performances to nullify the oppositions attacking threat, with the likes of Son and Eriksen pulling the strings for Spurs, with Sancho and Gotze doing the same for Dortmund.
Can see this being a tight one but have a feeling Spurs will nick it and take a positive result back to Dortmund for the second leg.
Spurs 2-1 Dortmund
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