Spurs travel to Germany tonight (8 PM BST kick-0ff) to take on Eintracht Frankfurt, who are level on points with Spurs in Group D, having beaten Marseille but lost to Sporting CP, just as we have done. Read more on our opponents here, and about the history of the fixture here.
There is obviously a lot at stake for tonight’s game – from either side’s point of view, it’s a chance to put daylight between themselves and basement club Marseille, pull clear of tonight’s opponent, and ultimately, close the gap to table-topping Sporting CP and hope that Marseille nick something off Sporting tonight.
Spurs will have to attempt this without the services of Lucas Moura (calf), possibly Dejan Kulusevski (hamstring), and Ben Davies (knee), and it remains to be seen how much tonight’s line-up will resemble the team that put in such a limp performance on Saturday. I’m assuming that Royal will retain his place in the XI, given that his suspension doesn’t carry over into Europe.
The hosts have several injury problems of their own, with midfielders Mario Gotze and Kristijan Jakic ruled out, along with defenders Almamy Toure and Aurelio Buta (neither of whom are registered in their Champions League squad anyway). Nevertheless, they are still able to call on the likes of Jasper Lindstrom and Daichi Kamada, and are not short of quality in other areas of the pitch.
Given that we’ve only won one of our five away games in all competitions so far this season, I’m not going to walk into this game thinking we have a God-given right to walk into this game and win. Indeed, our indifferent away form and the fact that these are dangerous opponents makes this game fraught with danger. Notwithstanding that, if we turn up with the right attitude, sharpen our decision-making in the final third and cut out the moronic defending that was displayed on Saturday, nothing should stop us. That is a big ‘if’, however…COYS!