Arsenal legend Martin Keown has insisted that Tottenham can bounce back and qualify for the Champions League knockout stages.
Spurs have lost their two opening fixtures in the group stages to Barcelona and Inter Milan and face a huge battle to reach the last-16, as they must also face PSV Eindhoven in home-and-away fixtures.
But Keown delivered an upbeat verdict on his former club’s bitter rivals and claimed Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembele can spearhead a Champions League revival in north London.
“The way Barcelona moved the ball was on another level but I do not think all is lost for Spurs in the Champions League this season,” said Keown via the Daily Mail website.
“They are depleted by injuries and counting the cost of rushing players back after the World Cup. Dele Alli looked like he was struggling with an injury at the World Cup but started the season with Tottenham despite not having a proper pre-season.
“He is the kind of player who can conjure a magic moment in a game like this but injury meant he was a spectator.
“If they can get Alli, Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembele back, they still have a chance in the group. They have the quality to beat PSV home and away. I can see them beating Inter Milan, too.
“The way they battled gallantly against Barcelona will give them the confidence that they can turn things around but they need to get everyone fit and available.”
OPINION
It is more than a skyscraper-high tall order for Spurs to emerge from a Champions League group that looked the toughest for all of the English participants when the draw was made, and now appears even trickier. Inter have emerged from the doldrums, Barcelona appear to have prioritised Europe’s premier competition this season and PSV are a strong side, as they demonstrated when walloping fellow Dutch big guns Ajax 4-0 recently. As Keown points out, Spurs will have to beat the Dutch champions home and away, as well as overcome Inter at home, to reach the last-16 for a second consecutive year. To do so, they must get Eriksen, Alli and Dembele back on the park. They were all badly missed against Barcelona. Eriksen is the team’s architect with the vision no one else in a white shirt has, Alli is a matchwinner and Dembele provides guile and grit in central midfield. They are a holy trinity.