Tottenham Hotspur take on CSKA Moscow in their second group game of the Champions League, at the Arena CSKA in Moscow following their 2-1 loss to Monaco at Wembley. Spurs are playing their home games at Wembley owing to work on their new stadium and need a result against the Russian side to put themselves in contention for a place in the knockouts.

Overview

All eyes will be on the Russian crowd, who created a ruckus in the recently concluded Euro 2016 and were warned by the Uefa over their behaviour. CSKA manager Leonid Slutsky, who led Russia to the Euros is confident there will not be any violence when Tottenham fans arrive in their country, but the travelling English fans will do well to keep away from trouble, in a game that can go out of control.

CSKA will be more confident than their English counterparts, having managed a brilliant fightback in Germany against Bayer Leverkusen and will be looking to get one over Spurs, who will be missing a host of key players. However, the Russian side have to be wary of the attacking threat posed by the English side, who will be on the attack from the outset after failing to take home a single point against Monaco.

Mauricio Pochettino
Pochettino sees room for improvement despite Tottenham claiming their fourth league win in a row Getty Images

The north London club will be without a host of important names for the fixture. They are missing the likes of Harry Kane with an ankle injury, Eric Dier with muscle cramp, Danny Rose and Mousa Dembele with hamstring injury, while their new signing suffered a bout of concussion against Middlesbrough in their last league game. However, they should have enough to pose a threat and manager Mauricio Pochettino will be hoping his players start on a better note, having gone two goals down against Monaco in the first half.

What Managers Say

Leonid Slutsky: Tottenham are strong at set pieces, yes, but the question is how we are going to defend against their overall attacking threat. It doesn't matter that Kane isn't playing because they have an amazing group of attacking players. Last season Spurs had an amazing team and tried to win the title. This season they are playing a little differently because many teams sit back against them. They are one of the best teams and therefore one of the best in the world.

Mauricio Pochettino: We were disappointed after Monaco. We need to improve. We must win tomorrow. I don't think that inexperience was the reason for our result against Monaco. We simply didn't play very well; Monaco created two chances and scored two goals. We don't want to risk Dier and Dembélé. When you play in a tournament like the Champions League it's very important to have many quality players, to be competitive on all fronts. We did a good job in the summer transfer window. It means that when we have five key players injured, we can replace them.

Betting Odds (betfair)

  • CSKA Moscow win: 21/10
  • Draw: 11/5
  • Tottenham win: 11/8

Team News

CSKA Moscow

Possible XI: Akinfeev; Mário Fernandes, V Berezutski, Ignashevich, Schennikov; Ionov, Wernbloom, Milanov, Eremenko, Golovin; Traoré.

Tottenham

Possible XI: Lloris; Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies; Wanyama, Alli; Son, Eriksen, Lamela; Janssen