Tottenham Hotspur v Bayer Leverkusen Betting Tips

Champions League Group E is incredibly tight with every side likely to be giving themselves a chance of qualification for the last 16. Arguably the two favourites of the group, Tottenham Hotspur and Bayer Leverkusen, meet at Wembley on Wednesday night.

It is far too overly-dramatic to say that Tottenham’s season has gone off the rails with Mauricio Pochettino’s side now without a win in five matches in all competitions. Of course this run will be of concern to Spurs fans, but we must remember that they have been picking up points during the course of that run. They are still yet to lose in the Premier League in ten matches, conceding just five goals in that time, and are only three points off Manchester City in top spot – although it is entirely fair to say that they have hit a bit of a stumbling block.

The Champions League has been a rather odd competition for Spurs this season and they have no consistency in Group E with one win, one draw and one loss. Some would even argue it should be two losses and one win after goalkeeper Hugo Lloris made a string of excellent saves to preserve a point for his side away at Bayer Leverkusen in the last round of European fixtures.

Perhaps the most feared factor for Spurs fans going into this reverse fixture against Leverkusen is not so much the opposition but rather the stadium – Wembley. No matter how many more fans are in the stadium and whether the dimensions of the pitch suit Tottenham’s style of play, there is no getting away from the fact that this is not home but neutral ground for Spurs.

Coming to Wembley is of course a motivating factor for Leverkusen and they will want to put in a good performance and pick up a good result at the iconic stadium.

This will be a tough test for Spurs and they really need to beat Leverkusen if they want to have any chance of finishing first in the group and thus go into the knockout rounds as a seeded team.

Bayer Leverkusen are having a similarly inconsistent run of late. Roger Schmidt’s side find themselves 10th in the Bundesliga and unable to put a real run of form together. They won at the weekend against lowly VFL Wolfsburg but, last time they won two domestic matches on the bounce, they lost the next two.

Leverkusen’s Bundesliga record reads four wins, one draw, four losses. It is their failure to convert losses into draws or even wins. A big part of this is their lack of goals. The fact that they have only scored 13 goals in nine Bundesliga matches and just three in three European matches is surprising when you consider the talent they have up front in the likes of goal-poacher Javier Hernández and one of Germany’s brightest young prospects in winger Julian Brandt, as well as others.

Defensively they are pretty sound, but still not up there with the top sides in Germany this season. Spurs will feel that if they can score passed Leverkusen and defend well, then they should come away with a result. Again though, it is that neutral Wembley factor that could stop this.

I am quite torn when it comes to the outcome of this match, but I am going with the draw. Leverkusen may not be great going forward but key defender Toby Alderweireld is missing for Spurs which gives them a better chance of scoring.

To be honest, it is more the Wembley factor that makes the draw appealing. It is not home ground and Leverkusen will be determined to come away with a result. However, there is a safer approach to take rather than backing the straight draw.

I have gone for ‘Draw – Tottenham Win No Bet’ at 17/20. A player who could potentially swing this match in the way of Spurs is attacking midfielder and sometimes striker Son Heung-min. The South Korean has made a pretty decent start to the season for Tottenham and his energy is absolutely vital to the high-pressing style of play that manager Mauricio Pochettino implements on his team.

Son will be going up against his former employers Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday and that means you can expect a little more from him. There is just something about players scoring against former clubs and I feel we could see that here – particularly if the Leverkusen defence, which has not kept a clean sheet in three matches, are not at their best. The odds on Son to score are appealing at 2/1.

See more Champions League tips here.