Ben & Rob's preview - Eintracht Frankfurt

Join the pair and some very special guests for N17 Live this evening - we kick-off on SPURSPLAY at 6.55pm.

Ben Haines

"First thing's first, it was such awful news about the passing of Gian Piero Ventrone, and, as a fan, I was so touched by the social posts from the players all saying how special he was. I didn't know him, but one thing I can share is that when myself and Rob were pitchside doing N17 Live after the Leicester match - the 6-2, Sonny's hat-trick - we were right in front of where the players were doing their warm down. I remember us talking about the work rate of the players and Gian Piero was watching on, giving his instructions. You could just see the respect there. The fact we're one of the fittest teams around is testament to that work. It was such tragic news. On the back of that, I was so impressed with how the team came together at Brighton, and the scenes at full-time were really special. Harry Kane... no-one is really talking about what a brilliant season he's having in front of goal, I guess mainly because focus is on Erling Haaland at City. Harry's scoring record is fantastic and he continues to look so sharp, his conversion record is so, so good. It wasn't an easy finish at Brighton. I thought once it looked like we were going to have to dig in at the Amex, we looked so resolute and organised. The midfield played well, as well. It's great news that Lucas and Dejan Kulusevski are back in training. On Eintracht Frankfurt, I've watched last week's draw again, and I thought it was a strong performance, a classic away display in Europe. I thought at times we looked nailed on to score, like Sonny's effort from just outside the box, I was sure that was in! We now know if we win our home games, it puts us in a brilliant position in the group. I thought the fact they matched us up in a 3-4-3 made it a tight game. Antonio Conte switched to a 3-5-2 system at Brighton, and I guess he has a decision to make now, to stick with that or revert back to 3-4-3. I thought Yves Bissouma did well in there on Saturday. Right wing-back is interesting as well, with Matt Doherty back and doing well at Brighton, and Emerson Royal still suspended in the Premier League, but available here."

Rob Daly

"First up, it's so positive that Lucas is available. I feel like the team needed that extra attacking option, so it will be good to see him back. Kulusevski is also close, and I completely understand what Antonio Conte means when he said he's so important to the team - just look at the stats - that there is no point risking him tonight. It was a great result at Brighton. We saw the quality of Son and Kane again for the goal, but also that resolve, fight, Matt Doherty and Ryan Sessegnon back in at wing-backs and both did extremely well. Matt made a decisive late tackle, Ryan was named Man of the Match. There is a good feeling about the team at the moment. In terms of the goalless draw in Frankfurt last week, Spurs were the better team and we'll all look back at that and think on a more clinical day, Spurs win that game. I think Frankfurt also showed they deserve to be in the Champions League. They contained Spurs well at times, fashioned some opportunities themselves, Jesper Linstrom had some nice touches in attacking areas. I was actually surprised how quiet Randal Kolo Muani was on the night, now a French international, he was suspended at the weekend and will be fresh for this one. Frankfurt, by the way, are incredibly inconsistent in the Bundesliga at the moment. There was a lot of good will after the way they played against Spurs, particularly praise for defender Makoto Hasebe at 38 and how he played against Harry Kane, and that came after they beat leaders Union Berlin. Then, they lost to Bochum, the team at the bottom of the table who hadn't won all season! Bochum's goals came in the second half, defensive errors from Frankfurt, who switched up their system from the 3-4-3 we saw against Spurs to 4-2-3-1, Mario Gotze came back in after injury, but they were completely undone. There was rotation, Daichi Kamada came off the bench, skipper Sebastian Rode came off the bench. That was a disappointing result for Frankfurt and if Spurs are at it, I'm confident it will be another win tonight."