Prediction: Tottenham Hotspur vs Olympiacos

Verdict: Total goals over 2.5

Best odds: 8/15

Bookmaker: bet365

Tottenham Hotspur will welcome Olympiacos to their fantastic new stadium in North London in the round before last of this season’s Champions League group stages on Tuesday evening. It will be a Group B game in which any point(s) for either side would mean a lot as the first half of the campaign draws to its close.

Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs have had a difficult start to the season domestically, falling far behind their top four rivals in the Premier League table, and though the Champions League campaign is going reasonably well, they conceded seven goals at home on what was a very humiliating night for them against Bayern Munich. The team seemed to be lacking not so much quality as a proper spark to inspire them to play the way they certainly can. All this eventually led to the sacking of manager Mauricio Pochettino last week and the appointment of Jose Mourinho in his place.

And the change in the dugout has already sparked change on the pitch, as they produced a thoroughly dominant display on Saturday to beat West Ham United at the London Stadium and immediately improve not only their spirits, but also their position in the table notably.

They enter the game sitting second in the group on seven points from the opening four rounds, having beaten Red Star Belgrade twice and drawn in the reversed fixture against Olympiacos, and a win here would see them secure passage into the knockout stages with a game to spare. Given everything that’s been going on at the club, it would certainly be a big boost.

Team News

Mourinho couldn’t count on defender Jan Vertonghen and midfielder Tanguy Ndombele on Saturday, but both of them are now fit and in contention for this clash. Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris remains a long-term absentee and there’s still no Michel Vorm, which means Paulo Gazzaniga is set to retain his place between the posts. Defender Ben Davies suffered an injury and had to be replaced at the London Stadium, so Danny Rose will probably start.

Olympiacos

As opposed to Spurs in the Premier League, Olympiacos are doing very well in the Greek Super League. They top the table at the moment with 27 points from 11 games, but city rivals PAOK are hot on their tail with the same tally, and both teams are still undefeated.

In the Champions League it’s a different story, with Olympiacos sitting at the bottom of the group with a single point – the one they won against Spurs at home. With their chances of progressing to the knockout stages practically non-existent, they will be hoping for an unlikely win here as that would give them a huge boost in their battle against Red Star for the third place which leads to the Europa League.

Nonetheless, it seems that the Serbian champions, who play Bayern Munich in Belgrade, will still have an advantage over them ahead of the final round when the two teams meet in Greece.

Team News

Head coach will only be without forward Konstantinos Fortounis, with the Greece international likely out for a long time yet as he recovers from an ACL tear.

Conclusion

Spurs players will likely be highly motivated to prove to Mourinho that their good performance against the Hammers wasn’t a fluke, and they’ll be keen to get the knockout stages qualification off their backs to be able to focus more fully on the challenges that await in the Premier League. Expect them to charge forward from the start and to score several times.

Verdict: Total goals over 2.5

Best odds: 8/15

Bookmaker: bet365