Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino and defender Jan Vertonghen spoke to the media today ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s UEFA Champions League clash at home against Borussia Dortmund tomorrow night. The press conference session brought some answers as to who will be in the Spurs first team that faces the current Bundesliga table toppers.
Defender Danny Rose will certainly not start, and he might not even be named to the team, as he suffered a shin would on Sunday in the win over Leicester City.
“Tomorrow it’s impossible for him to start from the beginning,” Pochettino said of Rose’s status for midweek. “Tomorrow we’re going to assess whether he can be on the bench.”
Another defender, Ben Davies, missed training today and instead trained by himself. He’s missed the last four matches due to a groin injury. This injury situation means that Jan Vertonghen will start at left back, like he did in the win over Newcastle United earlier this season. Harry Kane and Dele Alli are also out injured for Spurs.
Still, Tottenham are slight favorites at home against BVB.
“We can beat anyone. We’ve shown that last year,” Vertonghen said.
“Over two games we were the better team against Real Madrid, who were the eventual winners of the trophy. That’s why it was a shame we couldn’t do better last year, because we felt we should have done better. That’s why everyone has the feeling we can do it this year.”
Borussia Dortmund at Tottenham Hotspur UEFA Champions League Round of 16 FYIs
Kickoff: Wednesday, February 13, 8pm, Wembley Stadium
Tottenham Hotspur Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Injury Report for both sides: go to this link
Odds via Betfair: Tottenham 13/10, Draw 5/2, Dortmund 19/10
Form Guide: Tottenham Hotspur WWWLL, Borussia Dortmund DLDWW
Google Result Probability: Tottenham win 41%, Draw 28%, Dortmund 31%
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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