The Champions League is back this week, and on Wednesday night we have the first of three ties that feature English clubs taking on German clubs. Manchester City and Liverpool are the other English clubs involved in these games, but it is Tottenham that take centre stage first, facing up against the current Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday evening at Wembley.

Both clubs will be hoping to progress from this tie, and prior to the draw both of them will have targeted the quarter final stage as where they would like to get to as a minimum this season. However, thanks to the tough draw that both have with this game, only one of them will get through to that stage while the other will be sent home to concentrate on their domestic quest.

Both teams have a lot to play for domestically, with Tottenham having an outside chance of being involved in the Premier League title race, and Borussia Dortmund currently holding onto the league lead in Germany. Dortmund are looking to end the dominance of Bayern Munich, and so far it looks good for them, they have a genuine chance of not only performing well in Europe, but also taking the Bundesliga title.

The way this game is set up looks as though it will give us a very entertaining game of football to watch. Tottenham have no choice but to attack with them being the home team and needing to take a lead to Germany with them. That will leave gaps at the back though, and Dortmund are full of fast skilful players who can break at speed and damage Spurs at the back. I expect goals and I expect an equal number of chances for both teams in what should be a very good advertisement for the Champions League at Wembley.

Are Tottenham Genuine Premier League Title Contenders?

I don’t think too many people right now think that Tottenham can genuinely challenge for the Premier League title, and pretty much all of the focus is on Liverpool and Manchester City.

As the league stands right now, Manchester City are top with 65 points from 27 games. Liverpool are in second behind them, also on 65 points but they have only played 26 games so they have a chance to go top when they play their game in hand. Tottenham are back in third with 60 points, and like Liverpool they have also played 26 games so can move closer to Manchester City with a win in their game in hand.

Assuming that both Tottenham and Liverpool win their games in hand, the table would have Liverpool at the top with 68 points, Manchester City in second with 65 points and Tottenham in third with 63 points. This is certainly not a foregone conclusion, and it would be foolish to rule Tottenham out of proceedings at this early stage.

Many expected them to fall away from the title race when they lost Harry Kane to injury a few weeks ago. Just a week later they also lost Dele Alli, another influential attacking player, for the same period and anyone who thought Tottenham would be fine without Kane, must have had their doubts when Alli also went down.

However, since the injury to Kane, Spurs have won four league games on the bounce to keep in touch and they have scored eight goals in those games to show they can create and score even without two of their best players.

With games against Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool all coming up before the end of March, it is likely we will know the fate of Tottenham by the time that month comes to an end. To stay in the title race they need to be picking up points against those clubs, with the game against Liverpool holding huge significance of course. On top of that, Tottenham have this Champions League tie to consider, something they will want to take very seriously and field their best team for.

At some point both Harry Kane and Dele Alli will return in March and those two are going to give the squad a huge boost. It may be too late by then, or they may come in at a crucial time just when the team need an extra push. Either way, it looks right now as though Tottenham are in the title race, and it would be foolish to disregard them from conversations at this stage. They may be the outsiders of the three teams left in the race, but it is a three horse race, not a two horse race like some would suggest.

Tottenham vs Borussia Dortmund Betting Tips

I think this game is going to be open, I think both teams will attack and I believe we will see goals in the game. But can either of the two teams gain a vital advantage and take that forward into the second game, which takes place in Germany next month? I don’t believe they can, and that is why the tip here is for the game to end in a draw after 90 minutes of leg one.

Should this happen then the upper hand would certainly be with Dortmund going into the second game, and they would be strong favourites not only to win that game, but also to qualify for the next stage. This is a much better Dortmund team than the one that Tottenham beat twice in this competition last season, and on top of that their players are playing with huge confidence right now after performing so well both in this competition and at home in the league.

Tottenham have no choice but to attack here, which will suit them and the players they have in their team, but it will also leave gaps open for Dortmund, and that suits their style of play. With skilful, fast players they can break with speed and attack the holes left in the Spurs defence. I’m expecting this to be end to end action, with both teams scoring on the night but ultimately I cannot separate the pair of them, and that leaves me with no choice but to back the draw here, and let these two settle it out in Dortmund at the beginning of March to see who makes the quarter finals.

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