Michael Owen has predicted that Tottenham will beat Inter Milan 1-0 when the two sides meet in the penultimate Champions League group stage clash at Wembley on Wednesday night.
Spurs know that they must win the game in order to keep alive their hopes of reaching the Champions League knock-out stages in the New Year, otherwise they could go into their final group game against Barcelona fighting to qualify for the Europa League.
However ex-England international Owen believes that although Inter Milan will sit back, defend and look to frustrate Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino’s side will come out on top against the Italians.
“Spurs fought back to beat PSV 2-1 at Wembley which prevented an early exit and sets up this mouth-watering clash with Inter. They were unlucky to concede an injury time winner in the San Siro when going down 2-1 and must avenge that to stand any chance of qualifying. The Londoners are 7/2 to make the next stage as unfortunately for them they travel to Barcelona in the final round. Spurs will hope the Spanish giants have already wrapped up the top spot and rest players in that clash but that will be irrelevant if they can’t see off the Italians first,” said Owen on the BetVictor website.
“I expect the visitors to adopt a very safe approach and set up to frustrate the hosts looking for a draw. It will need to be a night of patience but hopefully Spurs can find a winner and a 1-0 victory is the call.”
OPINION
Owen has probably got this one spot on. Inter will want to draw the game to book their place in the knock-out stages so they will be happy to try and see out the game and return to Italy after a dull 0-0. But Tottenham will be in full flow and look to make amends for their defeat at the San Siro earlier in the season. Spurs’ 3-1 win over Chelsea at the weekend will help boost confidence and help give Pochettino a good team talk before the game, but Inter will defend a lot better than Maurizio Sarri’s side did so they cannot expect any kind of let-off. Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen will be crucial but there will be a lot of pressure on the whole squad to perform. If Jan Vertonghen can play then that will be a massive boost for Tottenham. Juan Foyth has done little wrong but the Argentine cannot play if Vertonghen is fit and ready to partner Toby Alderweireld at the back.