Tottenham Hotspur will look to retain their advantage over Bayer Leverkusen in Group E of the Champions League, when the two meet in Germany on tuesday night.

Hit and miss in Europe

Spurs are going really well at home, with an unbeaten start through eight Premier League games, leaving them second in the table and just one point behind leaders Manchester City. It's been a lot tougher for Mauricio Pochettino's team in their first UEFA Champions League campaign since the 2010/11 season.

Spurs started their European campaign by taking on Monaco in a big occasion at their temporary Champions League home, Wembley Stadium. Pochettino's team appeared to let the occasion get to them though, as they fell 2-0 behind and eventually fell to a 2-1 loss.

Spurs then ventured out to Russia, where they showed some improvement to beat CSKA Moscow 1-0 thanks to a Son Heung-Min goal. Son is bound to be up for this game as well, with it being against the team Spurs bought him from over a year ago.

Underachieving opponent

Bayer Leverkusen are one of the traditional, big names in German football, but they've been struggling in the Bundesliga and in this competiton so far this season. Roger Schmidt's team currently sit 10th in Germany's 18 team top flight, with 10 points from seven games.

Meanwhile in Group E of the Champions League, Bayer have drawn both their games against CSKA and Monaco, 1-1 and 2-2 respectively. Leverkusen will be really disappointed to be third in the group though, after conceding a last minute equaliser in France and throwing away a two goal lead at home to CSKA.

Much of Bayer's success falls at the feet of former Manchester United favourite, striker Javier Hernandez, who is their top scorer this season with seven goals in all competitions. German born, Turkish international and attacking midfielder, Hakan Calhanoglu is another key player for Spurs to watch out for.

Team news

Tottenham will be without defender, Toby Alderweireld who went down with a knee problem at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday and had to come off. Other than this though, only Harry Kane is missing with his long term ligament injury.

Leverkusen captain, Lars Bender missed their defeat at Werder Bremen on saturday with the flu, but is in contention for this one.

Stats

Bayer have lost 10 of their last 11 Champions League games against English opposition.

Javier Hernandez has scored seven goals in his last nine Champions League starts.

Tottenham have never scored more than one goal in their last six Champions League games.

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About the author
Jamie Joslyn
20 year old sports journalism at Sunderland University, huge Sunderland fan