Prediction & odds for the game: Tottenham (11/8) v RB Leipzig (19/10)

When: Wednesday, 19th February 2020 @ 8pm K.O

Where: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Tottenham Hotspur will meet RB Leipzig later this week in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League knockout stage clash.

Tottenham

Despite a rocky start to life at the club it really does feel like Jose Mourinho is starting to settle into his new role. Spurs are unbeaten in the last few weeks and while a 1-1 draw with Southampton and a 0-0 draw against Watford is included in that run, they’ve also been able to beat Norwich, Southampton in their FA Cup replay and Aston Villa in a memorable comeback. Oh, and they also put the Champions of England to the sword with a 2-0 win over Manchester City.

In terms of their Champions League journey so far we’ve seen quite the rollercoaster ride from Spurs, starting off with a 2-2 draw against Olympiacos. They went on to get torn apart 7-2 by Bayern Munich before rebounding with a nice 5-0 domination of Red Star Belgrade, before picking up a 4-0 win over the same opponents. A 4-2 revenge win over Olympiacos got them back on track only for a 3-1 defeat to Bayern to bring them back down to earth.

RB Leipzig

The title surge of RB Leipzig has been the big story of their campaign so far but over the course of the last few weeks, the wheels have started to fall off ever so slightly. They managed to beat Union Berlin but followed it up with a loss against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga, a 2-2 draw against Borussia Monchengladbach and another loss to Frankfurt – this time in the DFB Cup. They held out for a 0-0 draw against title rivals Bayern Munich before finally getting back on track with a 3-0 league triumph over Werder Bremen.

A narrow 2-1 win over Benfica got Leipzig’s Champions League group stage run off to a good start this season before they were put on the canvas by Lyon in a 2-0 loss. They bounced back with a 2-1 win against Zenit St Petersburg, before completing the double over the Russian side via a 2-0 victory. They then secured their qualification with back-to-back 2-2 draws against Benfica and Lyon.

Conclusion

This is the sort of wild game that could easily descend into utter chaos – and that’s what we’re banking on. Spurs are going to come forward with the kind of pace and power that is going to overwhelm Leipzig at the back, but on the opposite end of the spectrum, the German side are going to respond with their own forceful and ‘in your face’ style. We think that Tottenham are just about going to edge themselves ahead and get the win here, but we should all expect an away goal or two.

Speaking of away goals it feels wrong to underestimate what should be one of the games of the season so far, which is why we’re backing the over 2.5 goals market.

Verdict: Back the home win at odds of 11/8 and the over 2.5 goals scored at odds of 4/6. (All odds are taken from bet365).

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