Everything on... Inter

We kick off our 2018/19 Champions League campaign tonight (Tuesday) with a trip to Italy to face an Inter team who are returning to Europe’s most prestigious club competition after a six-year absence.

Our last visit to the San Siro came in 2013, where an extra-time goal from Emmanuel Adebayor proved decisive as we progressed to the quarter-finals of the Europa League. That was the last of our four competitive meetings with the Nerazzurri, which have produced a remarkable 18 goals.

Team news

Šime Vrsaljko is a doubt after suffering an injury to his left knee while on international duty with Croatia while fellow full-back Danilo D'Ambrosio came off against Parma at the weekend with a thigh problem.

Coach Luciano Spalletti said on Monday: “D’Ambrosio will be evaluated. We will see tomorrow but I think he is in pain. He has a muscle contusion. He worked well yesterday but these are important hours and the risk that wasn’t there is there now.”

Striker Lautaro Martinez will not feature, having missed Inter’s last two league games due to a calf injury.

One to watch

Winger Ivan Perišić has had a flying start to the season, bagging two goals and an assist in his first four Serie A games.

Having started his career at Sochaux, the Croatian flourished at Club Brugge, where he scored 22 league goals in the 2010/11 season. That form earned him a move to the Bundesliga and spells at Borussia Dortmund and Wolfsburg followed before he switched to Inter at the end of the 2015 summer transfer window.

The 29-year-old offers pace and physical presence and is always a threat in the opposition’s box.  Perišić’s profile has been raised further by his displays at the World Cup where he scored three goals, including efforts in the semi-final and the final.

Last four meetings

14 March, 2013 – Inter 4-1 Spurs (AET) – UEFA Europa League, round of 16
7 March, 2013 – Spurs 3-0 Inter – UEFA Europa League, round of 16
2 November, 2010 – Spurs 3-1 Inter – UEFA Champions League group stage
20 October, 2010 – Inter 4-3 Spurs – UEFA Champions League group stage

Previous clash

In the 2012/13 Europa League, we edged through to the quarter-finals after Emmanuel Adebayor grabbed a crucial away goal at the San Siro.

We headed to Milan with a three-goal lead following a commanding performance at White Hart Lane but that advantage was cancelled out with goals from Antonio Cassano, Rodrigo Palacio and an own goal from William Gallas, taking the game to extra time.

Adebayor buried the rebound after Moussa Dembele’s 96th-minute strike had been parried by Samir Handanović to give us the lead in the tie but Ricardo Álvarez’s goal set up a nervous last 10 minutes. We held on, though, to progress on away goals as the tie finished 4-4 on aggregate.

Our last non-competitive meeting against Inter was in Oslo in August, 2016, where we emerged 6-1 winners in a pre-season friendly. Harry Kane scored twice with Erik Lamela, Dele Alli, Vincent Janssen and Shayon Harrison also on target.

Inter’s form

It has been an erratic start to the season for Inter and they sit in the bottom half of the Serie A table with four points from as many games.

Having narrowly lost their opener against early season surprise package Sassuolo and let a two-goal lead slip in a 2-2 home draw with Torino, Luciano Spalletti’s side earned their first victory by storming to a 3-0 success at Bologna.

They failed to build on that result, however, going down 1-0 at home to newly-promoted Parma at the weekend.

Magic moment

We headed to the San Siro to face Inter in a competitive fixture for the first time ever in October, 2010, as we embarked on our first ever Champions League campaign.

The Nerazzurri, who were the European champions at the time, demonstrated their class and experience as we found ourselves 4-0 adrift and down to 10 men, following Heurelho Gomes’ dismissal in the eighth minute.

The second half, however, belonged to 21-year-old Gareth Bale. The Welshman took the game to Rafael Benítez’s side, scoring a sensational hat-trick in what turned out to be a narrow 4-3 defeat at the San Siro.

Played for both

Former Republic of Ireland international Robbie Keane scored 122 goals for us in two spells at White Hart Lane over a nine-year period.

‘Keano’ had spent half a season at the San Siro under Marcello Lippi in 2000, scoring three goals in 14 games for the Nerazzurri, then represented Leeds United before heading to North London in summer 2002.

The striker became a club legend at the Lane as he made over 300 appearances in the famous Lilywhite shirt as well as scooping the Club’s Player of the Year award on three occasions, the only player ever to do so.

What they’re saying

Spalletti believes a stellar game in Europe’s premier club competition is just the tonic following Inter’s slow start in Serie A: “I think that, with the period we’re going through, this is the game we needed,” he said. “It’s one of those matches and one of those competitions you wouldn’t swap for anything. I’ve been lucky enough to experience them several times, there are incredible emotions and if you’ve been there you can’t do without it. The Champions League is the amusement park of football, the Disneyland of football.”

The 59-year-old also insisted that we are favourites ahead of kick-off: “We’ve seen Tottenham’s last games – they’re a very strong team,” he added. “Harry Kane seems to be in excellent shape and he’s a very important player for how they play. He’s very good at laying the ball off and always picking out his team-mates in the right way.

“Are they the favourites? I think that my players have enough will and determination to be in this competition that we spent an entire season fighting for, we cannot feel any pressure or be intimidated by the English players’ greater experience. I believe that this match is the chance to kick into gear.”