Tottenham v Dortmund Betting Tips: Can Spurs make home advantage count?
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Odds and preview ahead of CL Round of 16 first leg
Tottenham Hotspur have been on a hot run of form recently, with Heung-Min Son taking on Harry Kane’s role of leading the team. But they face a very tough task in the form of Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund in their last 16 tie.
Spurs struggled in the group stage, scraping through on matchweek six on head-to-head away goals over Inter Milan. They finished with only two wins from six in a tough group.
Dortmund ran out group winners over Atletico Madrid in Group A through the same head-to-head method. They won four of six, losing only once in a relatively easy group, so this will be a tougher test for them.
Ahead of kick-off at Wembley Stadium – live from 8:00pm on BT Sport 2 – we’ve got all the odds and info…
Head-to-head
The North London side have only had four previous games against Die Schwarzgelben. Results currently sit as an even split at two wins apiece.
Dortmund won the first two encounters between the sides in the knockout stages of the 2015-16 Europa League.
The first tie saw the German side run out comfortable 3-0 winners thanks to two goals from Marco Reus and another from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The 2-1 away win at White Hart Lane saw Aubameyang grab another pair of goals, with Son notching for Spurs.
In last season’s Champions League group stages, the two met again. Spurs picked up all six points in the two encounters.
Kane scored twice and Son notched again to ensure a 3-1 win at Wembley. Andriy Yarmolenko scored Dortmund’s only goal of that game. At the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, Spurs won again with Son and Kane doing further damage. Aubameyang scored for Dortmund but couldn’t prevent his side falling to a 2-1 home defeat.
Likely XIs
Spurs are still without their key man Kane up front, while Dele Alli hasn’t been able to recover from his hamstring strain.
Left-back Ben Davies is out with a groin injury, and Spurs are sweating on the fitness of their other option in that position Danny Rose, who picked up a shin wound against Leicester in the Premier League.
Mauricio Pochettino will be boosted by a return to the squad for Erik Lamela (back) and Eric Dier (virus), although it’s not clear if they’re ready to start.
Dortmund manager Lucien Favre will be without key man Reus for this one. He suffered a muscle tear in last weekend’s 3-3 draw with Hoffenheim.
Paco Alcacer is out with a shoulder injury, with Lukasz Piszczek (foot), Manuel Akanji (hip) and Julian Weigl (infection) all missing out too.
Key Battles
Jadon Sancho will be looking to put on a show in North London, and it’s down to the Spurs back-four to stop him. The young English winger has been making a name for himself in the Bundesliga with his pace and trickery, but can he do it against English opposition?
With Kane being ruled out, Dortmund will need to shut down Son and limit the space he can run into. He’s become a clinical finisher and filled the void left by Kane’s injury. Axel Witsel may need to track back to restrict Son’s creativity.
On the opposite side to Sancho, Raphael Guerreiro has been given a new lease of life since being pushed forward and playing in a more attacking role. The Portuguese international grabbed a goal at the weekend, and will be a threat to the right hand side of Tottenham’s defence.
Match Odds
Our traders have this as a pretty even match-up, but Spurs come in as slight favourites despite missing two of their key men. They’re 6/5 to gain a first leg advantage.
Dortmund are being backed too, and you’d struggle to call it a shock is they notched a first leg win. They’re out at 9/4 underdogs.
Die Schwarzgelben will need others to step up in the absence of Reus and Alcacer, the source of most of their goals. Mario Gotze and Sancho come in at favourites to score anytime for the Germans at 21/10.
In the last three meetings between the two sides, both teams have got their names on the score sheet. If you think both teams can notch again, it’s 6/10 with our traders.
Spurs won 3-1 last time the two faced each other at Wembley, and a repeat of that result is 16/1.
Click here for the latest Tottenham v Dortmund odds.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
