After escaping from West Bromwich Albion with a point on Saturday, attention turns to the Champions League and a tough away test as we come up Bayer Leverkusen.
The Bundesliga outfit currently sit 10th in their domestic league after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Werder Bremen at the weekend,but don’t let that fool you, they saw off Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in their previous match.
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino has signaled the importance of the next two Champions League fixtures and has labeled the battle against Bayer Leverkusen as a must win game.
Poch said: “It’s important, we must win,” Pochettino said. “If we want to go to the next round this is key to take three points from this game and to play at Wembley the same way.
“The next two games against Leverkusen for us hold the key to the possibility of going to the next round.”
Team News
Spurs are without the services of key defender Toby Alderweireld who worringly picked up a knee injury during the 1-1 draw at the Hawthorns, although it is now expected he will be out for weeks rather than months with Eric Dier expected to fill in alongside Jan Vertonghen in the heart of our defence.
Kyle Walker has not travelled with the squad as he is being rested, meaning Kieran Trippier is likely to start at right-back.
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Son Heung-min is expected to start in attack against the club he spent two seasons at before joining Spurs for £22million in August 2015. Son was prolific, scoring 21 goals in 62 league appearances for the club.
Leverkusen captain Lars Bender missed Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Werder Bremen with flu but has returned to training.
One to watch
Former Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez has found himself as the main man at Leverkusen. The Mexican international has scored seven goals in nine appearances so far this season, building on an impressive tally of 26 goals in 43 appearances last season.
Nothing short of a win will do for us if we’re serious about making it into the knockout stages. These are the types of games we’ve been craving while knocking on the door of a Champions League return. COYS!
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