The Champions League returns to action this week and Tottenham Hotspur begin their campaign with a tough game against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday night. Spurs have been drawn in a very tough group containing the German side and reigning champions Real Madrid as well as APOEL and Mauricio Pochettino knows that his side will have to be at their very best to qualify.
Tottenham Hotspur v Borussia Dortmund
Champions League – Wembley Stadium, London – Wednesday, September 13th, 2017, 19:45 UK Time
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Draw Best Odd of: 13/5 at Ladbrokes |
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Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia DortmundTottenham Hotspur Form
Tottenham Hotspur were extremely impressive on Saturday as they dismantled Everton 3-0 at Goodison Park in a game which saw Harry Kane score his first goals of the season. The Golden Boot winner in each of the last two Premier League seasons went yet another year without scoring in August, but found the net twice at Goodison Park to kick-start his campaign. Mauricio Pochettino will be desperate for his side to find the winning formula at Wembley Stadium and knows that they can ill afford a repeat of the performances that have seen them lose to Chelsea and draw with Burnley already this season.
Borussia Dortmund Form
Borussia Dortmund come into this game sitting at the top of the Bundesliga table, despite drawing 0-0 with SC Freiburg in their last game. Dortmund have a whole host of injury concerns heading into this match after captain Marcel Schmelzer was stretchered off at the weekend and he will join Marc Bartra, Andrea Schurrle, Eric Durm, Sebastian Rode, Julian Weigl and Raphael Guerreiro on the injured list. Despite that lengthy list, Dortmund still boast some prodigious attacking talent in the shape of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mario Gotze, Marco Reus and Shinji Kagawa and you’d expect them to cause the Spurs defence problems on Wednesday night.
Talking Points
- Spurs have lost 8 of their 12 matches at Wembley Stadium, despite going the whole of last season unbeaten at home.
- The top scorers from last season’s Premier League and Bundesliga face off against each other in this match as Harry Kane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang take to the field.
- Dortmund are unbeaten so far this season and will be hoping to take advantage of Spurs home struggles to pick up a key away victory here.
Prediction
I think we could be in for a really good match-up on Wednesday between two quality attacking units who play a similar style of football. Dortmund have a number of key injuries heading into the game and if Spurs can start well, I can see them winning this one. If Spurs are to progress from the ‘Group of Death’ then they cannot afford to lose their home games at Wembley Stadium, starting with this one on Wednesday night.
Betting Tips (Ladbrokes)
Tottenham Hotspur start this game as slight favourites at 11/8, whilst an away win for Dortmund is available at 21/10 and the draw is 13/5. The 3/1 available on BTTS and a Spurs win looks very tempting to me as I fancy that both sides will find the net at least once in this game. England man Harry Kane is 10/3 to score first at Wembley Stadium and that looks like a great bet considering he scored his first and second goals of the season last weekend. The 11/8 on offer for the Spurs victory looks like the best value bet to me though and despite their struggles at Wembley Stadium, I think they are priced too highly here.