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Tottenham Hotspur will seek to finally break through and make a long Champions League run as they host German Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund in what is anticipated to be a very entertaining tie!
Despite playing without Alli and Kane, Tottenham have played some great football lately having won 3 consecutive games. Now some would say that the level of competition hasn’t been as great as it could be in Watford, Newcastle and Leicester but it for sure is a good confidence boosting run of games for Tottenham that should help them coming into this tie without their 2 star players.
One of the main reasons for Tottenham’s great play has to be Son Heung Min’s return and him picking up exactly where he left off having scored in all 3 games since his return for Tottenham! He absolutely is the player to watch in this match up from Spurs.
Tottenham dramatically overcame their Champions League group stages as after falling 6 points behind 2nd place after 3 games, Tottenham bounced back with 2 wins (late winners) over PSV and Inter and then clinched qualification with a late goal which sealed an equalised against Barca in a 1-1 draw which proved to be enough. Tottenham finished 2nd in the group edging in Inter on H2H.
Tottenham’s form at Wembley in the past few months has been absolutely amazing as they’ve won 10 of their last 12 games here across all competitions. However, they have somewhat struggled in big games at Wembley though they’ve lost to Man City, Man Utd, Barcelona, Liverpool while beating Chelsea x2 and Inter. 3W 4L in 7 big games here.
Tottenham have been a far better 2nd half goal scoring teams, in fact 8 of their 9 goals have come in the 2nd half.
Borussia Dortmund are currently the leaders in Bundesliga and have looked very strong in Europe too this season as they’ve clinched a R16 spot.
Dortmund have kind of dipped in form in their last 3 games though, they drew with Frankfurt, got eliminated by Bremen in the Cup and bottled a 3-0 lead in a 3-3 draw against Hoffenheim which could definitely affect the morale a little. Dortmund’s defending has been all over the place as they’ve conceded 7 goals in these 3 games conceding 3 goals in back to back games.
Dortmund’s attack meanwhile has been absolutely on fire all season long. The likes of Paco, Sancho, Reus mainly have had incredible seasons, however with Reus and Paco both out for the 1st leg, you’d have to say the load on Jadon Sancho’s shoulders are going to be massive to deliver for his team, the likes of Guerreiro, Gotze, Pulisic might have to step up too.
Despite their suspect defending this season in domestic competition, Dortmund’s defending have actually been pretty good in Europe as they’ve conceded the fewest goals (2) and have kept 5 clean sheets in 6 European games.
Dortmund are the best goal scoring team in Europe within 15 mins left of the game, they’ve scored 5 late goals and their subs are also the most clinical with 5 substitute goals in the competition.
We can definitely expect a late goal in this game given that both sides tend to score late goals in this competition.
Dortmund’s road to the R16 was relatively straight forward, they dominated and beat Monaco twice, beat and drew with Club Brugge while splitting wins with Atletico, their 4-0 win over Atletico at home is arguably their most impressive win this season.
Tottenham and Dortmund have faced 4 times in the last 3 years in European competition. Dortmund beat Spurs 3-0 and 1-2 in 2016 UEL knockouts, however Spurs responded with a 3-1 and 1-2 wins against Dortmund in UCL last season in the group stages. A fixture that tends to produce goals as all 4 games have seen 3+ goals.
According to TonyBet, Tottenham are the favourites to win this game at 2.10 while Draw is tipped at 3.55, Dortmund win 3.60. Dortmund are however tipped as favourites to reach the Quarters at 1.70 while Spurs are 2.20.
Team News
Tottenham Hotspur: Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Ben Davies are all out. Danny Rose will have to face late fitness tests while Lamela and Eric Dier are fit.
Dortmund: Marco Reus, Paco Alcacer, Lukas Piszczek and Julian Weigl are all out. Thomas Delaney could return however.
Betting Stats (UCL Based)
Tottenham have covered 33.3% of their total goal overs at Home in UCL this season (1-2).
Tottenham have covered 33.3% of their 1st half total goal overs at Home in UCL this season (1-2).
Harry Kane is Spurs top scorer at Home in UCL with 3 goals, but with him out the next 2 top scorers are Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen at Wembley for Spurs with 1 goal each in UCL.
Tottenham average 3.33 bookings per game at Home in UCL (10 bookings in 3 games).
Tottenham have covered 33.3% of their Handicaps at Home in UCL this season (1-2).
Tottenham have failed to cover any 1st half Handicaps in UCL at home this season (0-3).
Borussia Dortmund have failed to cover any of their total goal overs away from home in the UCL this season (0-3).
Dortmund have also failed to cover any of their 1st half goal overs away from home in the UCL this season (0-1-2).
Raphael Guerreiro is Dortmund’s top scorer away from home in the UCL goals with 2 away goals. He’s scored 2 of Dortmund’s 3 total away goals in Europe this season.
Dortmund average 2.33 bookings per game away from home in the UCL this season (7 bookings in 3 games).
Dortmund have covered 66.7% of their Handicaps away from home in the UCL this season (2-1).
Dortmund have covered 33.3% of their first half Handicaps away from home in the UCL this season (1-2).
KICK OFF – 13th February 2019 – 8pm UK Time
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