Thomas Frank’s future on the line as Spurs face Dortmund in a must-win UCL clash

Tottenham Hotspur welcomes Borussia Dortmund to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League league-phase clash.

Spurs suffered a shocking 2-1 home defeat in the Premier League to relegation-threatened West Ham United last time out.

However, Thomas Frank’s side secured a comfortable 3-0 victory over Slavia Prague in their last Champions League outing, and they currently sit 11th in the table with 11 points from six games.

Dortmund defeated FC St. Pauli 3-2 in the Bundesliga last time out. The Black and Yellow were held to a 2-2 stalemate by Norwegian outfit Bodø/Glimt and currently sit 10th in the Champions League league-phase standings.

Match preview

This will be the seventh major European match between Tottenham and Borussia Dortmund – the German side won both in the UEFA Europa League in 2015/16, but Spurs have won all four in the Champions League, across the 2017/18 and 2018/19 campaigns.

Borussia Dortmund have played more Champions League games against Spurs without winning than any other club (P4 L4), while they’ve only lost more often against Real Madrid (8).

The Black and Yellow have lost 10 of their 14 away Champions League matches in England (W3 D1), including losing seven of their most recent eight visits (W1). They’ve lost at the Etihad this season in a 4-1 defeat to Man City.

Tottenham are the only side to have won all three of their home Champions League matches without conceding this season, scoring eight goals in their three wins. They’re unbeaten in their last 23 home European matches (incl. qualifiers), winning 19 and drawing four since a 1-0 defeat to RB Leipzig in February 2020.

Dortmund have the highest shot conversion rate (24%) in the Champions League this season and are the team who have overperformed their xG total by the biggest margin (+6.2 – 19 goals from 12.8 expected goals).

Spurs’ most frequent source of goals in the Champions League this season has been own goals by the opposition (3), ahead of Randal Kolo Muani and Micky van de Ven, who have scored two each.

Since the start of last season, Borussia Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy has been directly involved in more goals (22) than any other player in the Champions League (16 goals, six assists). His 16 goals are also the joint-most by any player in this period, along with Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappé.

Team news

Ben Davies was stretched out with an ankle injury, and he joins James Maddison, Rodrigo Bentancur, Dejan Kulusevski, Mohammed Kudus and Richarlison on the sidelines.

While Mathys Tel, Yves Bissouma, Radu Dragusin and new signing Conor Gallagher are ineligible for this fixture.

Pape Sarr is also unavailable after he finished his Africa Cup of Nations campaign with Senegal yesterday.

Borussia Dortmund

Aaron Anselmino and Ramy Bensebaini are in contention for selection after their respective injuries, while Marcel Sabitzer is their only absentee.

Predicted line-ups

Tottenham Hotspur: Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Kevin Danso, Djed Spence, João Palhinha, Archie Grey, Wilson Odobert, Xavi Simons, Dominic Solanke, Randal Kolo Muani.

Borussia Dortmund: Gregor Kobel, Niklas Süle, Waldemar Anton, Nico Schlotterbeck, Yan Couto, Jobe Bellingham, Felix Nmecha, Julian Ryerson, Maximilian Beier, Carney Chukwuemeka, Serhou Guirassy.