Both sides who have suffered defeats during the weekend will aim to get back to winning ways as Spurs lock horns with Milan at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Spurs will look to avoid a third straight defeat in all competitions against Milan, who already have their noses in front from the first leg. Though they could grab the three points from Manchester City at the start of February, the Lilywhites were humbled 4-1 soon by Leicester City.
In their last two games, Antonio Conte’s side have experienced a nightmarish time. Sheffield United inflicted a shocking defeat which saw Spurs bow out of the F.A. Cup, suggesting that their long trophy drought goes on. Adama Traore’s 82nd-minute goal meant that Spurs went down again in the Premier League top-four race in their last match.
Though the North-London outfit retained 4th place in the Premier League standings, Liverpool’s resounding win against Manchester United meant that the Kopites have a game-in-hand and they can now easily send Spurs down to the Europa League spots.
The Rossoneri will carry a slender one-goal lead in England but they will have a gigantic task ahead of them to contain a wounded Spurs team who search for redemption.Â
Milan fell short in their last game against Fiorentina when the Viola doubled their lead in the 87th minute through Luka Jovic. Theo Hernandez could pull one back in added time but surely it wasn’t enough to get something out of the match. The defeat thinned out their top-four hopes as Roma overtook them in the table with their win against Juventus.
The Rossoneri have won just one of their last 14 away matches in the Champions League (D6,L7) but considering the lead on aggregate, the Italian side are the favourites to progress to the Quarterfinals of the UCL for the first time since 2011-12.
Results from their last five matches in all competitions
Spurs:
L L W W L
Milan:
L W W W W
Team News
Antonio Conte will miss Ryan Sessegnon, Yves Bissouma, Hugo Lloris and Rodrigo Bentancur through long-term injuries. Defender Eric Dier will also be ruled out for this match with a suspension. Midfielder Pierre -Emile Hojbjerg will return after serving a ban in the last encounter.Â
Pedro Porro has performed well in recent games and looks set to compete for his place in the starting eleven with Emerson Royal.Â
As for Milan, they are expected to miss the match-winner of the first leg, Brahim Diaz, through a minor issue. The Spaniard is expected to be on the bench against the Lilywhites. Pioli nearly has a fully-fit squad in the pack and recovered first-choice goalkeeper Mike Maignan is tilted to feature in the game.
Sergino Dest, Yacine Adli, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are not called by Pioli to face Spurs.
Predicted XI
Spurs (3-4-3): Forster; Romero, Lenglet, Davies; Emerson, Hojbjerg, Skipp, Perisic; Kulusevski, Kane, Son
Milan (3-4-3): Maignan; Kalulu, Kjaer, Tomori; Saelemaekers, Krunic, Tonali, Hernandez; De Ketelaere, Giroud, Leao
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Trambak Bhattacherjee | GIFN
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