Tottenham eyes their second victory in the group stages of the 2022/23 Champions League season making the trip to Lisbon to face goal-hungry Sporting CP. This is the first-ever meeting between the sides in the competition.
The Portuguese outfit picked up a handsome 3-0 victory over Frankfurt last week while Spurs come straight from their 2-0 victory of Marseille into this one after their weekend game against Manchester City in the Premier League because of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing.
SCP vs TOT Match Details
Date: Tuesday, 13 September 2022
Time: 17:45 (WET) / 22:15 (IST)
Venue: Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon
SCP vs TOT Match Preview
Sporting CP has a grand start to September after winning three games on the bounce, scoring nine goals and conceding none in all competitions. Among those victories was their magnificent 3-0 victory over last season’s Europa League winners Frankfurt in the first group stage game of the new Champions League season. Three second-half goals from Marcus Edwards, Trincao and Nuno Santos and restricting the Bundesliga outfit to only two shots on target guided the home side to all three points in the evening. The latest winning run of Sporting is even more impressive knowing that the team had an utterly poor end to the last month losing 3-0 to rivals FC Porto and then going down 2-0 to Chivas at home. In the opening month, the side from Lisbon only registered one win from four games placing them seventh on the Liga Portugal chart eight points adrift of league leaders Porto. Manager Ruben Amorim wishes the team’s current emphatic form to recover their league season and help them thrive in Europe as well. The 4-0 win over Portimonense in the league at the weekend also proves Sporting is very solid in defense and equally lethal in attack proving to be a capable contender to move to the latter rounds of the Champions League as well. Although facing Antonio Conte’s Spurs will be a whole different challenge to face in their next group stage game. This is the first time the Portuguese side is playing against Tottenham in Europe but overall they have a poor record to show facing English sides in the competition by not winning any of their last six games in such meetings. Sporting also lost 5-0 on aggregate to Manchester City in the round of 16 stages last season but defeated the big hitters in the form of Dortmund along the way so they could draw inspiration from their own performance. Unlike Tottenham, Sporting are not having an unexpected halt in their run of games carrying positive momentum into this fixture.
Tottenham’s victory over Marseille was not as straightforward as Sporting’s win over Frankfurt. Spurs were only able to create major openings in the French side’s defense after defender Chancel Mbemba was sent-off early in the second half for a last-man foul on Son. The Brazilian Richarlison, playing his first Champions League game of his career, got his head at the end of two fantastic crosses driven in the penalty box to grab a memorable brace. The 25-year-old signed with the club from Everton in the summer transfer window has made a huge impact both coming off the bench and starting in games living up to his club-record $70m price tag already in the first six games for Tottenham. The brace in the Champions League game on Spurs’ return to the competition came after his excellent performance against Fulham in the Premier League. However, Spurs missed the chance to carry forward their unbeaten run and show their might against league holders Manchester City for situations not under their control. Premier League decided to postpone all the fixtures in the past week as a mark of respect to the death of the Queen of the UK. As a result, the Lilywhites play back-to-back Champions league games on an away trip to face Sporting. Not playing a game in a congested schedule may act as a boon for Spurs to have a rest and restart the system or can be a disaster to the momentum the team is building on. Antonio Conte’s men are unbeaten this season with wins in five of the seven games in all competitions. They face a confident Sporting at their home looking positive from their last three high scoring wins although the hosts conceded 11 goals at home last season in the Champions League. The team is also looking forward to their top scorer from last season, Son Heung-Min breaking his scoring duck this season in his sixth straight start for the club.
Recent Form (all competitions)
SCP: WWWLL
TOT: WWDWW
SCP vs TOT Team News
Sporting will be without star defender Jeremiah St. Juste who picked up a muscle strain last week in the Champions League game against Frankfurt. He played the first 52 minutes of the game before being taken off the pitch missing the weekend clash against Portimonense as well. His partner in defense left the field in tears through an injury in that league fixture and is set to be replaced by Matheus. The Brazilian will slot in the back three alongside Sebastian Coates and Goncalo Inacio, set to start the game after being substituted in the last game as a precautionary measure. Jovane Cabral is out through a thigh injury.
As for Tottenham, they will be without Lucas Moura once again as the winger continues to struggle with a tendon injury. He is expected to be back for the weekend game against Leicester if the game is not postponed due to the Queen’s funeral. Bryan Gill has recovered from his injury to be part of the traveling squad. Manager Antonio Conte is unlikely to make any changes to the starting eleven that secured the opening group stage game win over Marseille in the Champions League.
SCP vs TOT Predicted Lineups
SCP: Antonio Adan; Matheus, Sebastian Coates, Goncalo Inacio; Pedro Porro, Hidesma Morita, Manuel Ugarte, Nuno Santos; Trincao, Pedro Goncalves, Marcus Edwards,
TOT: Hugo Lloris; Christian Romero, Eric Dier, Clement Lenglet; Emerson Royal, Hojbjerg, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ivan Perisic; Richarlison, Harry Kane, Son
SCP vs TOT Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Lloris
DEF: Porro, Romero, Inacio
MID: Goncalves, Ugarte, Hojbjerg, Perisic
FW: Richarlison, Kane, Trincao
Captain: Harry Kane
Vice-captain: Richarlison
Pedro Porro has made 3 assists in all competitions this season including in back-to-back games, one less than he managed in total last season.
Pedro Goncalves has scored 4 goals and delivered 3 assists in 6 league matches for Sporting so far. He has scored 4 goals in the Champions League last season.
Richarlison has 3 goal contributions in the last two matches for Tottenham including his first goal for the club in his Champions League debut.
