The Big e-Spurs Preview - Borussia Dortmund vs. Tottenham

Tottenham go into this crucial Europa League last 16 tie with a glut of injuries following a hectic Premier League and European schedule. Dele Alli, Danny Rose and Eric Dier will miss Thursday's Europa League last-16 first-leg tie at Borussia Dortmund.

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Alli is suspended, fellow midfielder Rose is being rested and left-back Rose felt cramp in his calf in Saturday's draw with Arsenal. Jan Vertonghen and Clinton Njie remain sidelined with knee injuries.

Pochettino's side dispatched Fiorentina 4-1 in the last 32 after a 3-0 second-leg win at White Hart Lane – a result that underlined the huge strides the London side has made this season.

Spurs have only lost once in eight European games in 2015-16 and have sustained an unlikely title challenge in the Premier League, though they have suffered a setback due to a defeat to West Ham and draw with 10-man Arsenal in their last two matches.

German side Dortmund, like Spurs, are second in their domestic table. They are unbeaten in 11 games in all competitions - a run which includes nine wins - and striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored 29 goals in 33 games this season.

"I like the way they play but it's a good challenge for us. We play against one of the best teams in Europe," said Pochettino.

"The strikers they have - Aubameyang, (Henrikh) Mkhitaryan, (Ilkay) Gundogan in midfield, (Mats) Hummels - they're internationals and big players.

"They can stay here or go to Real Madrid or Barcelona."

Dortmund have scored 59 goals in 25 league games this season and have not lost at home.

Referee: Cakir, 

Assistants: Duran, Ongun, 

Goal line referees: Göcek, Simsek

Fourth official: Satman (all Turkey)

Spectators: 65.848 (sold out)

The Opposition

Full Name: Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund

Nickname(s): Die Borussen, Die Schwarzgelben (The Black and Yellows), Der BVB (The BVB)

Short Name: BVB

Founded: 19 December 1909; 106 years ago

Stadium: Westfalenstadion

Capacity: 81,359[1]

President: Reinhard Rauball

Chairman: Hans-Joachim Watzke (CEO)

Head Coach: Thomas Tuchel

League: Bundesliga

Current Position: 2nd

Website Club Home Page

The Last 5 - Borussia Dortmund

Bundesliga - Bayer 0 - 1 Dortmund

Europa League - Porto 0 - 1 Dortmund

Bundesliga - Dortmund 3 - 1 Hoffenheim

Bundesliga - Darmstadt 98 0 - 2 Dortmund

Bundesliga - Dortmund 0 - 0 Bayern Munich

The Last 5 - Tottenham

Premier League - Tottenham 2-2 Arsenal

Premier League - West Ham 1-0 Tottenham

Premier League - Tottenham 2-1 Swansea

Europa League - Tottenham 3-0 Fiorentina

FA Cup - Tottenham 0-1 Crystal Palace

Stat Attack

- Borussia Dortmund has lost just one of its last eight matches at home to English sides in European competition, that defeat coming against Arsenal.

- Only Aritz Aduriz (7) has scored more Europa League goals this season than Erik Lamela (6). 

- Henrikh Mkhitaryan has created more chances in the Europa League than any other Dortmund player this season (20).

Teams News - Borussia Dortmund

Sokratis Papastathopoulos (groin) is Thomas Tuchel's only real injury concern as he aims to extend Dortmund's superb home record this season, in which the side has lost just once, when PAOK defeated it 1-0 in the final match of the group stages.

Teams News - Tottenham

Spurs are without Jan Vertonghen, Dele Alli, Danny Rose, Eric Dier and Clinton Njie, who are still working on regaining fitness following knee injuries, but boast an otherwise strong squad to take to Germany.

Dele Alli is suspended, meaning 20-year-old midfielder Harry Winks – who signed a new contract on Tuesday – could be given the chance for his third appearance in the tournament this season, though he will likely only make the bench.

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Jason's View

The disappointment is still being felt of the 2 dropped points and missed opportunity to beat Woolwich. The potential 6 point gap over them, and staying in the title race was irrelevant to me. Derby day is about winning the game for that day, everything else it would have brought was a bonus. 2-1 up, 10 men, 15 mins to go …… Aaarrrggghhh!!!

Next up, Dortmund, and the best European tie we’ve had since the Champions League season. Both sides are now 5-points off top spot and starting to think their best chance of winning a trophy this year would be the Europa League. Dortmund are the most famous high intensity pressing side in European football, and whereas West Ham did it to us for 45 minutes, Dortmund will do so for the entire 180 minutes. We have to be much better than we were at facing our system, than we were in those 45 minutes at the Boleyn.

As always, in cup football, it’s hard to forecast our line up, but I am sure Dortmund will be absolutely at full strength. We ourselves will be without Rose, and more importantly Alli (of whom we have just 1 win from the 6 games he failed to start this season). To get something from the first leg that will give us a chance of going through, you feel we have to have our best remaining 9 players on the pitch. Son could well come in for Alli, who has scored 5 goals in 5 games against them.

One thing is for sure, Kane will absolutely want to play in the game, games like this don’t come along too often. There is no more atmospheric stadium in Europe than Dortmund, and as always with German stadiums, it will almost certainly be full. There is no negativity for the Europa League in Germany.

With Dortmund having high quality players in every position, this is a great opportunity for us to see how good we are against the very best European sides, particularly with an eye to next years hoped for Champions League campaign, and an indication of whether we can be competitive at that level.

Since starting the preview’s, I’ve yet to predict a defeat, but I fear their overall level of big match European know-how and game management may just come through. Sometimes, against the best you have to take a 1-goal defeat to stay in the tie, rather than chasing an equaliser and getting caught on the break, and finding yourselves with a massive uphill battle in the 2nd leg. We need look no further than just down the road to see just how costly that can be.

I see Dortmund scoring 3 times in the tie, whether we can get 4 overall I’m not so sure. But as a first leg, with head rather than heart, I’m going for a 0-2 defeat. I hope I’m wrong.

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