Leverlosing?

Tottenham return to Wembley this Wednesday evening for a crucial Champions League encounter with Bayer Leverkusen. The two sides fought out a 0-0 draw a fortnight ago in Germany, a match which was dominated for the most part by Bayer Leverkusen. It could be argued that Spurs were fortunate to come away with a point, but Mauricio Pochettino’s side defended well and still have the opportunity of qualifying for the latter stages of the competition. If Tottenham are going to achieve that, they will almost certainly need a positive result here against their German rivals, with Group E currently very finely balanced. Spurs are just a point in front of Leverkusen as things stand, but victory would increase that margin to four points, and make things very difficult indeed for Roger Schmidt’s men.

Having not been victorious since a 2-0 success over Manchester City on the 2nd of October, Tottenham Hotspur are desperate for a win. Tottenham haven’t played badly by any means during the past month, but they have been unable to turn their domination of matches into victories, drawing four and losing one of five games played. Goals have been at a premium, with Vincent Janssen only able to find the back of the net if it is from the penalty spot. Harry Kane is very close to a return, but is likely to be saved for the Arsenal game on Sunday, and Toby Alderweireld is also not quite ready to slot back into the Spurs eleven following injury. Mauricio Pochettino has assembled a squad which has plenty of strength in depth, but the players that have come in aren’t really firing on all cylinders.

A big positive for Spurs is the fact that Bayern Leverkusen aren’t the best when on the road, and this should be a very different match to the one which took place at the BayArena recently. The flip side of that is the fact that this encounter will be taking place at Wembley Stadium, and Tottenham didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory during their opening Champions League clash there with Monaco. While there was plenty of support for the so called home side, Tottenham definitely did not look as though they felt at home. Where the match taking place at White Hart Lane, I would agree with the bookies assessment of making Spurs around the even money mark, even with a few injuries to contend with. With Wembley as the venue however, Tottenham’s chances of all three points are reduced. Not many club sides get the opportunity to play at the home of English football, and it no doubt incentivises the teams Spurs are facing. I’m expecting another tight nervy affair, and the result really could go either way on Wednesday night.