Tottenham must concentrate on the Champions League

The Tottenham squad must now concentrate their efforts on the Champions League after crashing out of two cup competitions within the space of a week. Harry Kane’s absence has been keenly felt and Spurs were left to rue rotten luck as Dele Alli also succumbed to a hamstring strain. With Son Heung-Min away on international duty, Tottenham’s season has been derailed by an injury crisis up front and it will be difficult to bridge a nine-point gap on league leaders Liverpool. The Champions League now represents Tottenham’s best chance of silverware this season and they could just pull it off if they can edge past in-form Borussia Dortmund.

It will be a monumentally difficult challenge, as Lucien Favre’s men thrashed Hannover 5-1 at the weekend to retain a six-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga. They have a superstar midfield and they have banged in 50 goals in 19 games to draw plaudits from across Europe this term. If you check the football odds at the leading bookmakers, you will note that Dortmund are the 4/6 favourites to qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals at Spurs’ expense, while Tottenham are 11/10 underdogs.

However, the first game will be held at Wembley and Tottenham have a great chance to open up a lead. South Korea are already out of the Asia Cup, so Son will be back and very much reacclimatised to the team by then. Kane and Alli will be huge misses, of course, but the pace of Son, with Christian Eriksen pulling the strings in behind and the likes of Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela wreaking havoc out wide is still a fascinating proposition.

Tottenham beat Dortmund home and away in this competition last year, so they can take encouragement from that. This is obviously a far more formidable Dortmund side, but Spurs have not exactly gone backwards in that time. The defence remains extremely strong, and if it can hold firm at Wembley and Spurs can nick a couple of goals with Son’s breakaway pace they will be in a great position to surge into the next round. The quarters do not take place until April 9-17, and by that time Kane and Alli should be back in business. If Spurs could take a full strength team into the last eight, they could beat anyone.

Bayern Munich are hunting Dortmund down in rabid fashion in the Bundesliga, having won six league games on the bounce. Favre will be desperate to finally break Bayern’s domestic dominance and seize the league title, and you would imagine that is Dortmund’s main priority this season. If they blow their lead now, after the start they enjoyed to the campaign, it could plunge the club into depression. Bayern made a poor start to the season as they struggled to adapt to new boss Niko Kovac, and if Dortmund cannot win the league this season they might fear that they never will. Bayern will be stronger next year after replacing aging squad members, so Dortmund needs to capitalise now.

Spurs also have domestic commitments to focus on, so they cannot solely focus on Europe. They may be out of the cups, but they are just four points clear of Chelsea and seven ahead of Arsenal and Man Utd in the Premiership. They have winnable games in the build-up to the first leg against Dortmund – against Watford Newcastle and Leicester – but sandwiched between the two Champions League last 16 legs are matches against Chelsea and Arsenal, plus a trip to Burnley. Those three weeks will define Tottenham’s season and they could have huge ramifications regarding what happens in the summer transfer window, and Spurs must thrive without their two most devastating attacking forces. It is time for Son, Eriksen and co to step up and prove their worth.