Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur passed their biggest test of the season when they went up against Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid in the mid-week Champions League clash. The vibrant English side took on the European Champions for the group stage clash at Santiago Bernabeu and despite having several senior players injured they walked away with the points split between the sides.
Real Madrid were pitch perfect in their Champions League campaign winning both of their matches until Tottenham shook them back. Pochettino’s side, who also won their opening matches this season, took the lead in the match and despite settling for a draw can draw take plenty of positives from the match.
Liverpool did their bit in the Champions League by remorselessly dispatching Maribor 7-0.
The weekend fixture will be exciting to watch given both teams come into the match in good form and like to play attacking football.
However, Tottenham will have a tough job Klopp’s front three should they fail to keep up their energy levels after a tiring night at Bernabeu.
Klopp is likely to field his strongest available side for the fixture against Spurs. Spurs still have Victor Wanyama and Eric Lamela out injured. Mousa Dembele and Ben Davies are doubted for the match with Danny Rose returning to training but unsure of starting.
Harry Kane will again be the man to watch out for. The Englishman is coming off his best goalscoring month after scoring 13 goals in September. This astonishing achievement put him on par with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who also have scored 13 goals each for their best goalscoring record in a month.
The midfield however still remains a worry for Pochettino with Dembele likely to start on the bench and Wanyama completely out.
Here is how Tottenham is expected to line-up with 3-4-3
Defence:
Hugo Lloris will be expected in goal with Toby Alderweireld, Eric Dier and summer signing Davinson Sanchez expected as the three centre-backs. Danny Rose, who came on for the last few minutes at Madrid, is expected on the bench again with Jan Vertonghen starting at left wing-back while Serge Aurier’s Champions League experience will mean Kieran Trippier starting at right wing-back.
Midfield:
Moussa Sissoko is likely to be one of holding midfielders with the other being Harry Winks. Mousa Dembele will be on the bench after Pochettino confirmed that the midfielder will most likely be available should everything go well.
Attack:
Harry Kane will almost surely be leading the line and is likely to be flanked by Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen. This is how they might line up:
