Tottenham ready to go beyond the wall

When Tottenham won the first leg of this tie 3-0 at Wembley three weeks ago, there appeared little doubt that Mauricio Pochettino’s men were through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

But a three-game wobble almost left Spurs flat on their face, before Harry Kane’s late equaliser against Arsenal on Saturday, and they go into tonight’s second leg in Dortmund with a little more trepidation.

Although Pochettino and his men now have more confidence and more players back from ilness and injury, the manager is far from happy that his team have another disadvantage — a day’s less recovery time than their opponents.

While Spurs played three times last week, including two blood-and-thunder London derbies in the space of three days, the Bundesliga brought forward Dortmund’s fixture with Augsberg to Friday night, giving them an extra day to prepare for this all-or-nothing tie.

It is not just the Germans who help their teams in this way in European competitions, as Pochettino was quick to point out. French side Rennes have had a week off before facing Arsenal in the Europa League, the Italian and Spanish leagues are often happy to accommodate their top teams’ European ambitions by switching fixtures.

“In Europe they are more sensitive to helping their clubs compete the best way in European competitions,” said the Argentinian last night.

“We need help from the FA and the Premier League. Dortmund played on a Friday before the first leg and and we played on the Sunday. This time it was Friday for them, Saturday for us. Having 24 or 48 hours less to prepare than an opponent is massive and everyone knows that.

“How can we prepare properly in 48 hours to play again? It is so difficult because players are tired when they have no time for recovery — they might feel better after 15 or 25 minutes but it does not last.”

Indeed Spurs have been looking jaded for the past few weeks, a situation masked to some extent by eking out results against the Premier League’s strugglers until they lost to Burnley and then Chelsea last week, two results that finally killed their already slim title hopes.

Their disproportionately high number of players at the final stages of the World Cup have suffered since the summer, with Toby Alderweireld and Heung Min Son the only two of the dozen or so Tottenham players at the tournament not to have missed games through injury since.

So it is little surprise they have the appearance of a team that has been running on empty for some time now, with patchy performances disguised by some good results, not least that victory over Dortmund last month.

The Germans are also a team running out of steam, it seems, with their lead over Bayern Munich — which once stood at nine points — at the top of the Bundesliga evaporating at the weekend. Dortmund, like Spurs, are struggling, with four defeats in their past five games, and Friday’s loss at lowly Augsberg mirrored Tottenham’s defeat at Burnley.

Coach Lucien Favre can point to key players being injured, too, with top-scorers Marco Reus and Paco Alcacer missing the first leg, although they now return.

Pochettino has had to juggle with a threadbare squad, with a clearly ring-rusty Victor Wanyama starting his first game since November in central midfield against Arsenal, only to be replaced in that position by Danny Rose, who has spent most of his career as a left-back.

At least Pochettino will be able to call on England midfielders Harry Winks and Eric Dier, both of whom travelled to Germany yesterday after recovering from injury and illness. Kane does not look fully match-fit after his lengthy lay-off, but even at less than 100%, he is capable of troubling defences, as he showed with goals against Burnley and Arsenal. Kieran Tripper, who is struggling for form and fitness, has been left in London.

Whatever team Pochettino puts out, and whoever they face in the Dortmund side, they will also have to contend with the Signal Iduna Park’s infamous ‘Yellow Wall’, the most intimidating stand in European football. So often this mass of bodies and noise has acted like a 12th man for the German side.

Tottenham subdued them in their last appearance here, in November 2017, when goals from Kane and Son helped them to a 2-1 win in last season’s group stages. But their previous visit, almost three years ago, had been a sobering experience as Thomas Tuchel’s Dortmund won 3-0 to knock Spurs out of the Europa League.

The Germans have yet to concede a goal at home in the Champions League this season, with thumping wins over Monaco and Atletico Madrid in the group stages. If they score early, it could be an uncomfortable ride for Spurs, whose best chance of a goal may be through Son, who has scored nine goals in 10 games against the Germans, for Tottenham as well as his previous clubs Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen.

This is certainly one of those games when the first goal will be vital, whoever scores it. Will it be Spurs?