Champions League: Spurs Start Off Against Greek Giants

Olympiacos vs Tottenham Hotspur

After coming so close to claiming European club football last season, Tottenham Hotspur are ready to start over again.

The runners-up to Liverpool in last year’s Champions League final will kick off this year’s campaign with a trip to Greece to face Olympiacos.

The Greek giants have made it back to the Champions League group stage after a one-year absence and will be desperate to end their winless run in the competition.

But the Champions League 2019 odds will be against them as they face a Spurs side that is eager to build some momentum after a somewhat rocky start to the season.

Talking Points

Olympiacos’ strong start

Olympiacos have failed to win the Greek Super League in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1996. But they have gotten off to a great start in this year’s campaign.

They’ve won their first three matches of the season without conceding a single goal. After winning their first two matches by a single goal (both penalties), they thrashed Volos NFC 5-0 at home in their most recent outing last weekend.

Two of their new free transfer signings — Youssef El Arabi and Mathieu Valbuena — were once again on the scoresheet. The two veterans have gotten their Olympiacos careers off to a great start. El Arabi already has four goals in six appearances, while Valbuena has three in nine.

The Greek giants also impressed in qualifying for the Champions League group stage. After defeating Viktoria Plzen 4-0 in the second qualifying round, they won both legs against İstanbul Başakşehir en route to a 3-0 aggregate win.

They then crushed Krasnodar 6-1 on aggregate, which included their second 4-0 home win of the qualifying stages.

Valbuena’s presence will provide the Greeks some much-needed experience playing in the Champions League after his spells with Marseille and Lyon.

Meanwhile, the Olympiacos defence has been very impressive, conceding just once in their first nine matches in all competitions this season. But Spurs will be an entirely different level of competition compared to the ones they’ve faced to start the season.

Spurs still finding form

It’s been a somewhat rocky start to the season for Tottenham. After their 3-1 win on the opening weekend of the season, they went winless in their next three matches.

Although they drew 2-2 at Man City, they were significantly outplayed. They then suffered a home defeat to Newcastle and surrendered a two-goal lead to Arsenal in the north London derby, which ended in a 2-2 draw.

However, they finally showed some promising signs that they are about to turn things around with their convincing 4-0 win over Crystal Palace over the weekend. Heung-Min Son opened his account for the season with a brace.

Champions League: Can Son Heung-Min help the Spurs win versus Olympiacos? — Son Heung-min celebrates with Erik Lamela after scoring their third goal against Crystal Palace

Harry Kane will be eager to make some Champions League 2019 highlights after having his mini scoring run snapped against Palace. The England skipper had scored in each of his last three outings for club and country, including four in two matches for England during the international break.

Midfielder Giovani Lo Celso will miss the next couple of months after picking up a hip injury. But fellow Tanguy Ndombele could be ready to return to the starting lineup after only coming on as a sub against Palace. Dele Alli could also be set to get his first start of the season after he played half an hour against Arsenal.

History

Olympiacos and Tottenham have met just twice all-time in European competition, which in the second round of the 1972-73 UEFA Cup. Tottenham won the first leg 4-0 and lost the second 1-0 to move on to the next round. Their most recent meeting came in a club friendly in 2009, which Tottenham also won, 3-0.

Olympiacos’ have not won any of their last eight Champions League group stage matches, with their last win coming back in November 2015. That was their third win in four games as they looked set to make the knockout round for the first time since 2010. But they lost their last two matches to Bayern Munich and Arsenal and had to settle for a Europa League place.

And in their last trip to the group stage in 2017-18, they lost five of six matches and drew the other as they made a quick European exit.

Betting Tip

	Olympiacos vs Tottenham Hotspur	Tottenham Hotspur 1X2 @ 1.91
	September 19, 00:55 (GMT+8)

SBOBET odds have Tottenham favoured at 1.90 on the 1X2 market, while Olympiacos are at 4.00 and a draw is at 3.40.

While Olympiacos’ early-season winning run looks impressive, the calibre of their opponents is nowhere near the level of Spurs. Moreover, their squad doesn’t seem to have the talent that can rise up another level.

Spurs should just have too much quality for the Greeks and get their Champions League campaign off to a winning start.