Tottenham Hotspur v PSV Eindhoven
Tuesday, 20:00
Live on BT Sport 2
Tuesday, 20:00
Live on BT Sport 2
Spurs out for revenge
Finally, the end is in sight for the Marathon Men. This is Tottenham's fourth game in the space of eight insane days, and while Mauricio Pochettino has rotated as much as possible, you can be sure a rest will be welcome. Even it will only be until Saturday evening, when they face Crystal Palace.
Not that they'll be thinking about that when they welcome PSV Eindhoven to Wembley. There is unfinished business to attend to here: their Champions League hopes may be hanging by the thinnest of threads, but Spurs would love to exact a little revenge for the result in the Netherlands a fortnight ago, when they dominated proceedings and were undone by two individual errors.
Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen may be in line for returns after missing out against Wolves at the weekend, while the defence is likely to be bolstered by Davinson Sánchez. Juan Foyth impressed in the midweek League Cup success over West Ham, but had a bit of a nightmare at Molineux, conceding two penalty kicks, and can probably expect to drop back to the bench.
PSV improving
Like their hosts, PSV have a pretty slender chance of reaching the knockout stages. The difference is that there was far less expectation on the shoulders of Mark van Bommel and his charges; this is a young, improving side, and the Champions League was always likely to be a diverting extra-curricular activity at best.
Still, you'd have to say the Boeren have been learning fast. They may only have a point to their name, but have improved with every game so far, and showed admirable grit to stay in the game against Tottenham, even when under huge pressure. A victory in their remaining three matches would give the campaign a pretty positive look, and confidence won't be an issue: it's now 11 wins in 11 in the Eredivisie after the 1-0 success over Vitesse Arnhem at the weekend.
Van Bommel has a fairly settled starting XI, though there should be one major change from the first meeting between these sides: flying winger Steven Bergwijn, who missed out at the Philips Stadion, is fit again. He and Mexican sensation Hirving Lozano should give the Spurs full-backs plenty to think about.
Tottenham too short to side with
Tottenham really should have won in the Netherlands two weeks ago, so it is perhaps no great surprise that they are heavy 1.40 favourites to make amends on Tuesday. Progress past the group stage is unlikely, but Pochettino will be desperate for his players to at least give themselves a fighting chance, so motivation is unlikely to be lacking.
PSV have shown they are no pushovers, however, and may relish the chance to counter-attack if Spurs dominate possession. They have pace to burn on the flanks, and if there is any weariness in the home line-up after all their recent games, Hugo Lloris could be in for a busy night.
Goals on the cards again?
Our angle in the first game was to back goals, which worked nicely: our Same Game Multipick of both teams to score and over 2.5 goals paid out after 55 minutes. The rationale that applied then hasn't changed much over the last two weeks, even if PSV have not been quite so explosive in their last two league games (three goals scored).
Spurs have kept three clean sheets in their last 13 games - against Huddersfield, Cardiff and West Ham. With Jan Vertonghen out and Lloris shaky, they have struggled against teams with more attacking verve, and have shipped 10 goals in six Wembley outings (all competitions).
Only Crvena Zvedva (75) have faced more shots in this season's Champions League than PSV (69), with the Dutch side facing at least 20 in each of their three matches. That's no way to keep a match tight, and so another slogging contest could be in store.
Kane can reign
You can back both teams to score and over 2.5 goals at 1.81, which is reasonable enough. But we'll be a touch more daring and add a Harry Kane goal into the mix as well. The England man has the best goals-per-game ratio of any player in Champions League history to play at least 10 matches in the competition (0.85 - 11 goals in 13 matches) and was a constant thorn in PSV's side in Eindhoven.
RECOMMENDED BETS
Back both teams to score, over 2.5 goals and Harry Kane to score at [2.57] (Sportsbook)
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