Tottenham Hotspur can secure their place in the knockout stages of this season’s Champions League with a win against Sporting CP on Wednesday.
Antonio Conte has advanced beyond the group stages just twice in his previous five attempts, while Spurs have only failed to make it beyond this round once in their five showings.
They welcome a Sporting side to north London that got the better of them in the reverse fixture in Lisbon and inflicted their first defeat of the season.
Here’s all you need to know ahead of their second meeting.
Injured duo Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison remain unavailable, while Conte revealed they will further assess Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Cristian Romero on Wednesday morning after they missed Sunday’s defeat to Newcastle with muscle problems.
Spurs’ only changes are likely to come at wing-back and left centre-back, though just whether Conte leans into that rotation is unknown.
Tottenham Starting XI (3-5-2): Lloris; Sanchez, Dier, Lenglet; Emerson, Skipp, Bissouma, Bentancur, Perisic; Son, Kane.
Bench: Forster, Austin, Tanganga, Doherty, Spence, Sessegnon, Davies, White, Sarr, Devine, Lucas, Gil.
Sporting head to London with manager Ruben Amorim still at the helm following interest from Aston Villa.
He and his squad will make the trip to England without the injured Daniel Braganca and Neto, while Pedro Goncalves and Ricardo Esgaio are serving suspensions following red cards last time out against Marseille.
Marcus Edwards is in line for his first appearance back in N17 since leaving Tottenham. He played once at the old White Hart Lane, coming off the bench in a 5-0 EFL Cup win against Gillingham.
Sporting CP Starting XI (3-4-3): Adan; Inacio, Coates, Matheus; Porro, Ugarte, Morita, Santos; Edwards, Paulinho, Trincao.
Bench: Israel, Paulo, Marsa, St Juste, Lamba, Alexandropoulous, Eduardo, Nazinho, Fernandes, Arthur, Cabral, Rochinha.
Tottenham are in a real funk right now and desperately need a win of any sort to get them out of it – one which secures progression in the Champions League would be a particular mood-lifter.
Sporting’s desire to keep hold of the ball should play nicely into Spurs’ hands, and if the hosts simply stick to what they know and don’t hit the self destruct button again, then they should emerge victorious on Wednesday evening.
Prediction: Tottenham 2-1 Sporting CP
Credit: 90min.com
