Olympiacos vs Tottenham Hotspur preview: Spurs begin their Champions League campaign in Greece

The UEFA Champions League returns this week with last seasons finalists Tottenham Hotspur taking on the Greek Superleague runners up Olympiacos in group B.

Olympiacos, who like Spurs have never won the competition, did not make it to the group stages last season, instead they competed in the UEFA Europa League and reached the Round of 32 stage after beating AC Milan in the final group F game to consequently finish above them in second place.

So far this season, the Greek side have won all three of their league games, scoring seven goals and not conceding any, so there is no reason why they will not have confidence going into this game.

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Spurs had their best ever Champions League campaign last time out, reaching the final where they were ultimately beaten 2-0 by Liverpool in Madrid.

After an inconsistent start to the Premier League which included a defeat at home to Newcastle United, Pochettino's men thrashed Crystal Palace 4-0 in their last fixture and moved into third position.

These two sides have only met competitively on two occasions and they were both in the 1972 UEFA Cup, so this is a rare fixture between them both.

Team News

Tottenham:

Defender Juan Foyth has returned to full training for Spurs after picking up an injury in pre-season but is not quite ready to be involved in this game.

Two of Pochettino's summer signings will also miss out on this game.

Ryan Sessegnon is being treated after having continuous issues with a hamstring injury since the summer.

Also, Giovani Lo Celso has started rehabilitation on an injury he picked up during international duty recently with Argentina.

Neither Danny Rose nor Serge Aurier have travelled with the squad to Greece.

Olympiacos:

The Olympiacos boss Pedro Martins has confirmed that he will have a strong squad of players available to select from for this game.

Ruben Semedo returned to training this week and will therefore be fit to play a part if called upon.

The only absentees for the home side will be Kostas Fortounis and Lazaros Christodoulopoulos.

Pochettino insists his side will need to be at their best to win the game

The Spurs boss spoke to the media on Tuesday ahead of the game the next day, he was excited for the game and expects a great atmosphere at the Karaiskakis Stadium.

"We’re so excited to start here in Greece against Olympiacos. It will be an unbelievable atmosphere and when you are professional and compete at this level, you wait for these games.

“Tomorrow we are going to make some changes, for different reasons, but the focus must be in the performance and quality of performance.”

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Pochettino also spoke about the tactical approach to the game and how he hopes his side can counteract the way Olympiacos like to play, he said:

"Tactically, it will be a difficult game. We know how Olympiacos play. Pedro Martins, likes to play football, to play from the back, moving the ball quickly. We know each other well.

"We’re capable of dominating the game, stopping their transitions, forcing them to play deeper. There are lots of things we need to do and to be at our best to beat a team like Olympiacos."

Martins promises his team will try to win the game despite the difficulty of the challenge

The Olympiacos manager spoke ahead of the game about the difficulty of the group his side are in, he said:

"This group features clear favorites to qualify, namely Bayern and Tottenham. This is clear. We are not to be considered a favorite, simply enough because we are not.

"Tomorrow, we play against a really tough opponent, last season’s finalist and one of Premier League’s main contenders."

However, the 49-year-old promised that his team will try their best to win the game.

"We will have to take care of our defense, make no mistakes and make the best use of everything we manage to create. The entire squad will have to work well like we normally do. All in all, our defensive performance will have to be impeccable and coupled with great team attacking.

“We never go for the draw at kick-off. No matter what competition we play at, what opponent we have to face, we always play to win."