Tottenham vs AS Monaco: Champions League Preview & Prediction

Tottenham will create history when they face AS Monaco at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday night in their Champions League opener.

With more than 80,000 tickets sold for their opening Group E clash, this will break the record attendance for a Champions League group stage fixture in England and one involving an English club in a ‘home’ fixture.

As the club prepares to move out of White Hart Lane and into their new home next season, Spurs are unable to play their European fixtures in their current stadium due to a reduction in capacity. As a result, the club has had to fork out more than £5m to stage their Champions League games at the national stadium this term.

However, Monaco will not be an easy team to beat. Leonardo Jardim’s side travel to London on the back of positive results in Ligue 1 and they currently sit top of their domestic league.

In recent weeks, the visitors have recorded comfortable victories over French heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain and Lille.

But Mauricio Pochettino’s side have enjoyed some recent success themselves, as they beat Stoke City 4-0 on Saturday in the English top-flight.

Harry Kane scored his first goal since the back end of last term and manager Pochettino will be hoping that the England international can now go on and reproduce the goalscoring form he showed in each of the last two seasons.

Tottenham and Monaco were paired in Group J of the Europa League last season, where Spurs drew 1-1 away and secured an impressive 4-1 win – which included an Erik Lamela hat trick – at White Hart Lane.

Monaco, meanwhile, have already featured in the Champions League this term. Jardim’s side saw off Spanish side Villarreal 3-1 on aggregate in the Champions League play-off round.

Striker, Kane, will be looking to score in back-to-back games for Spurs tonight – Photo: Mark Leech / Offside.

Team News:

England international full-back Danny Rose remains sidelined with a hamstring injury. The defender missed the win over Stoke City after scoring before the international break in the draw against Liverpool. However, Rose is the only player who will be unavailable to Pochettino.

Midfielder Moussa Dembele is available for Spurs again, in both the Champions League and Premier League, after serving a six-game ban for scratching Chelsea striker Diego Costa’s eye back in May.

Defender Benjamin Mendy has not travelled with the Monaco side, but boss Jardim will be able to call on former Manchester United and Chelsea loanee Radamel Falcao.

League Positions: Tottenham – 5th (8 pts); Monaco – 1st (10 pts)
Last Meeting: Tottenham 4-1 Monaco – (December 10, 2015 – Europa League group stage)
Form: Tottenham – LLDWDW; Monaco – DWWWWW
Key Men: Tottenham – Harry Kane; Monaco – Bernardo Silva
Shoot Says: Tottenham 1-1 Monaco