MY ACCOUNT
– Spurs looking to bounce back from mauling at Leicester
– Milan have gone totally off the boil since World Cup
– Recommended bet: Tottenham – Draw No Bet
Tottenham kick off the resumption of the Champions League with a last-16 first-leg assignment at AC Milan – and they will have to improve on the weekend if they want to come away with a positive result.
Spurs were awful on Saturday when they crashed to a dismal 4-1 defeat at Leicester, in terms of performance the polar opposite of the previous week’s classy 1-0 win against Manchester City.
AC Milan, on the other hand, were winners on Friday night, beating Torino 1-0 at the San Siro where Olivier Giroud was on target.
But having failed to win any of their previous seven league and cup ties to drop out of the top four in Serie A, they needed it – and it was a far from convincing win at that.
Team news
AC Milan have been without first-choice keeper Mike Maignan for a while plus experienced defender Alessandro Florenzi.
Returning from injury, though – and pushing for a start – is central defender Fikayo Tomori, but central midfielder Ismael Bennacer is unavailable despite returning to training.
As for Spurs, they will have Fraser Forster in goal instead of injured Hugo Lloris, while a reshape in midfield will be required as they are without the suspended Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and injured pair Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur.
Oliver Skipp and Pape Matar Sarr should be Antonio Conte’s engine-room pairing, though Eric Dier could slot in there if required to do so.
The stats
Milan boast the leakiest defence in the top half of Serie A with 30 goals conceded in 22 matches. They did, though, keep a rare clean sheet in Friday night’s 1-0 win over Torino, snapping a run of seven games without a win in which they had conceded 18 goals.
The Rossoneri are most susceptible at set-pieces – only bottom side Cremonese have conceded more goals from set-plays than them this season.
Giroud scored the winner against Torino, the veteran French star’s 11th goal of the season, but that is nothing compared to the 19 goals across all competitions that Tottenham’s Harry Kane has.
Spurs had won three in a row before Saturday’s 4-1 dismantling at Leicester, with most of their goals over the season scored in the second half. Just 18 of their 54 goals in all competitions (33 percent) have been scored in the first half.
Prediction
Those Spurs’ stats certainly point to the second half producing most goals, an even more compelling option when you consider that the likelihood is that this tie gets off to a cagey start.
The reality is that Spurs have been playing well and a major tweak in midfield will not dilute the firepower up front with Richarlison an option if Conte wants to change the established Kane-Heung-Min Son-Dejan Kulusevsk trident.
