APOEL v Tottenham 
Tuesday, 19:45 
Live on BT Sport

Chelsea meetings offer glimmer of hope to APOEL

In theory, the Cypriot champions shouldn't offer much opposition to Spurs on Tuesday night.

To get an angle on where they fit in at this level, APOEL have lost 10 of their last 12 Champions League outings and fired blanks in 10 of the last 13, including each of their last five.

And yet, Chelsea fans will remember them as more than just group fodder. The Blues met them at this stage in the 2009/10 campaign and were held to a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge. The away leg was close too with Nicolas Anelka's 18th minute strike the only goal.

APOEL deserve credit for getting this far and have been in Champions League action since July 12. They failed to concede in the final qualifier against Slavia Prague (2-0 at home and 0-0 away) and then kicked off their domestic league campaign with a 4-1 away win.

However, a reality check was given on Match Day 1 when they lost 3-0 at Real Madrid, managing just one shot on target.

Spurs look to continue away streak

If this first meeting was being played at Wembley, APOEL could possibly have frustrated Spurs.

But Tottenham are enjoying the greater freedom of away games so far this season, winning three out of three in the Premier League and scoring eight goals in the process.

Those wins have come at Newcastle, Everton and West Ham. Between them, in other home games, those three sides have won five out of five on their own grounds this season so Tottenham's victories there deserve more credit than on first glance.

One obvious question is how have Spurs performed under Mauricio Pochettino in European away games?

He took over in May 2014 and since they they've drawn 1-1 in Monaco, lost 2-1 in Anderlecht, won 1-0 at FK Qarabag, drawn 1-1 at Fiorentina, lost 3-0 at Borussia Dortmund, won 1-0 at CSKA Moscow, drawn 0-0 at Bayer Leverkusen and lost 2-1 in Monaco and lost 1-0 in Gent.

It's not a great record and it's a good job APOEL aren't from Belgium!

But the wins at Qarabag and CSKA Moscow suggest they have enough mettle to get the job done when expected to.

On the teams news front, Dele Alli serves the second of a three-game European ban while Mousa Dembele is struggling with an ankle injury.

Market suggests comfortable away win

Tottenham are just 1.31 to make it four away wins out of four this season. It's 5.80 that they're held to a draw while APOEL are 14.00 to deliver a huge shock.

APOEL boss Giorgos Donis has taken charge of seven Champions League matches and lost six of them, his teams letting in 15 and scoring just once.

That latter stat suggests there are ways to bump up the basic Spurs win price.


Spurs won't get much help

Going Over 2.5 Goals at 1.70 doesn't look the wisest idea given that history suggests APOEL are very likely to draw another blank.

It means Spurs will have to do it all on their own and they've not exactly been prolific scorers away from home in Europe in recent seasons.

In fact, they've never scored more than one goal in a European away game under Pochettino.

This is one of their most straightforward tasks but the 2.32 for Unders is worth a look.

Kane at the double

The Sportsbook's 2/5 about Harry Kane finding the net is pretty off-putting but the 23/10 for two or more is a very legitimate play.

The England striker has scored four braces in his last six games, including a double for his country in Malta.

That burst includes two each at Everton and West Ham and also a double strike in Tottenham's impressive 3-1 win against Borussia Dortmund.

With back-to-back games against Real Madrid to come, Spurs won't want to mess about so Kane should get enough game time to score his goals.

Spurs should win to nil

I'll hedge a little by also having correct score bets on 1-0 and 2-0 at 7.60 and 6.80 respectively.

For starters, I don't expect APOEL to score so it's then a case of how many goals Spurs can rack up.

The ideal scenario is Kane scoring both in a 2-0 win (Alli's absence helping that belief) but I'll go 1-0 rather than 3-0 given Tottenham's lack of away goals in Europe in the last few seasons.

Any of the three bets landing means a profit on the night.

Recommended Bets
1pt Harry Kane To Score 2 Goals or more at 23/10
0.5pts Spurs to win 1-0 at 7.60
0.5pts Spurs to win 2-0 at 6.80


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