Sporting Lisbon and Tottenham Hotspur will both be out to continue their winning starts to the 2022-23 Champions League when they do battle at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in Tuesday’s Group D battle.
Ruben Amorim’s men eased past Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 last week, while the North London giants defeated a 10-man Marseille side 2-0.
Former Tottenham youngster Marcus Edwards never quite cut the mustard in the English capital, but the 23-year-old stole the spotlight when Sporting travelled to Frankfurt and is now out to show his former side exactly what they are missing.
After a goalless 65 minutes at the Deutsche Bank Park, Edwards fired home the opener before turning provider for Francisco Trincao to double Sporting’s lead just two minutes later, and the Portuguese giants would wrap up a comprehensive win courtesy of a late Nuno Santos strike.
A trio of left-footed goals certainly lets Tottenham know what they will need to pay the most attention to this weekend, and during a week where their young and innovative manager Amorim was linked with the Chelsea job, Sporting did not let the speculation affect them as they eased past Portimonense 4-0 in league action.
Having now strung together a three-game winning streak in all competitions, with three clean sheets and nine goals in tow, Sporting – who sit top of the Group D rankings after one matchday – are now out to end a barren record against Premier League opposition.
Indeed, the Lions are winless in six Champions League matches against English opposition and have never opened a premier European campaign with two straight wins, so history is certainly against the hosts as Tottenham aim to benefit from their elongated period of rest.
From Sead Kolasinac and Matteo Guendouzi to Nuno Tavares and the suspended Alexis Sanchez, there is certainly an Arsenal-based theme to Marseille’s squad nowadays, which only spurred Tottenham on to get the job done in professional fashion last week.
Marseille held out for a good chunk of time after witnessing Chancel Mbemba receive a red card for a last-man foul, but Richarlison marked his Champions League debut with a brace of headers to propel Tottenham to all three points on the opening matchday.
Marking their return to the pinnacle of continental football with a bang, Tottenham would have hoped to keep their momentum going against Premier League champions Manchester City at the weekend, but the fixture was one of many postponed in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
Antonio Conte’s side therefore have their unbeaten run for the season still intact as they aim to record an eighth game without defeat in all competitions, but only one of their three away games so far this term has ended in victory, and they were far from convincing for long periods against Marseille.
Tottenham and Sporting have never locked horns on the competitive stage before, but the Lilywhites memorably fell to a 1-0 loss on Portuguese turf against Pacos de Ferreira in the Europa Conference League qualifiers last term before rectifying those mistakes with a 3-0 home success.
Sporting Lisbon Champions League form:
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Sporting Lisbon form (all competitions):
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Tottenham Hotspur Champions League form:
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Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):
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We say: Sporting Lisbon 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Sporting have certainly recovered from their slow start to the season in the manner that Amorim would have wanted, but a host of fresh defensive concerns will threaten their hopes of a fourth-straight victory and shut-out.
The Lions should still experience some joy on the attacking front – Edwards in particular needs no added motivation to keep up his hot streak – but Tottenham can hit back against a depleted Sporting backline to record a second-straight European win.