Tottenham Hotspur welcome Borussia Dortmund to north London on Tuesday night for a pivotal Champions League clash.
Both sides are jostling for position in the top half of a congested league phase table. But they come into the match in contrasting form.
Tottenham predicted lineup vs Borussia Dortmund
Tottenham (4-2-3-1): Vicario; Porro, Romero, Danso, Udogie; Gray, Bergvall; Kolo Muani, Simons, Odobert; Solanke.
The match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium kicks off at 8pm and will be broadcast live on TNT Sports 1.
Tottenham team news vs Borussia Dortmund
Tottenham could be without up to 15 senior first-team players for what is turning out to be a must-win match for Thomas Frank. In fact, Frank has revealed that Tottenham only have 11 first-team players available.
New signing Conor Gallagher is ineligible to play in the league phase, after previously featuring for Atletico Madrid. Dominic Solanke has been added back into the Champions League squad, replacing Mathys Tel.
Yves Bissouma is back from the Africa Cup of Nations, but is ineligible for Champions League duty. Radu Dragusin is also not registered, only recently returning from a serious knee injury.
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Micky van de Ven is suspended for this fixture after accumulating three yellow cards. Ben Davies is sidelined after hobbling off in the weekend loss to West Ham United, further stretching Tottenham’s options at centre-back and left-back.
Kevin Danso is expected to come into the centre of defence alongside Cristian Romero, with Pedro Porro continuing at right-back and Destiny Udogie likely to start on the left. Guglielmo Vicario should retain his place in goal to provide continuity behind a reshuffled unit.
Archie Gray went off with an injury against West Ham on Saturday but might be risked to partner Lucas Bergvall. Joao Palhinha has been ruled out due to injury.
Thomas Frank under pressure
Tottenham boss Frank is under increasing pressure amid a run of three consecutive defeats. He could be out of a job if his side fail to win a sixth match in a row.
The Dane’s popularity with the fans has plummeted in recent weeks and reports emerged on Sunday that the club are considering calling time on his seven-month reign.
The recent spate of injuries are a mitigating factor for Spurs’ woeful run of results. But the standard of performances have been underwhelming for far too long now.
Only two clubs in the Premier League, West Ham and Wolverhampton Wanderers, have collected fewer points at home than Frank’s Tottenham. The toxicity at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium reached a tipping point on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund strengthened their grip on second place in the Bundesliga with a 3-2 win over St Pauli on Saturday. Niko Kovac’s side are unbeaten in their last four away games, although they did lose 4-1 to Manchester City on their last trip to England.