Read on to discover the most likely starting XI for Tottenham’s first Champions League match of the season.
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Eric Dier is looking forward to playing in the Champions League.
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino prioritised the league over the domestic cups and Europa League last season, fielding a weakened team in both legs of the round-of-16 tie against Borussia Dortmund, which the North London club lost 5-1 on aggregate.
The France worldwide midfielder will be battling for a first-team place with Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama while Mousa Dembele serves out his six-match suspension hanging over from last season, and with the global break Mauricio Pochettino admits he only got a chance to work for him for the first time yesterday.
The next objective for Spurs is Wednesday’s Champions League opener against Monaco at Wembley.
Dier says the Champions League will be a great distraction but it will not in any way take priority over the Premier League in the months ahead and the race for the title.
Tottenham last appeared in the Champions League in the 2010-11 season, reaching the quarterfinals before losing to Real Madrid. “Christian is a player we trust and he is very happy to stay here and there is no doubt he will improve his performances in the future”.
Last season, Spurs lacked an alternative to striker Harry Kane, while Pochettino was also short of quality cover across midfield.
Kane believes the squad now has more depth than last season and is better equipped to compete on multiple fronts.
“I think we’ve got a stronger squad than previous year”, the England worldwide said. We want to go as far as we can, we feel we have a group that we can definitely qualify from.
“The performances haven’t been awesome”.
“The lads are excited and we wanted a good result here”, he added.
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Dan is ESPN FC’s Tottenham correspondent.
