(Football news) Tottenham Hotspur and AC Milan are struggling in their respective leagues as both are 5th. The two sides now have an opportunity to play in the Champions League quarter finals. Tottenham Hotspur had a 3 game win streak including a win against Manchester City but they were convincingly beaten by Leicester City at the weekend. AC Milan on the other hand are struggling after the World Cup. Their first match back was a win over Salernitana but after that they had 5 losses and 2 draws. Their last game was a 1-0 win against Torino which will be some sort of confidence booster.

Tottenham Hotspur have a bulk load of injuries. The most recent one happened to Rodrigo Bentancur who injured his ACL which will keep him out until for the rest of the season. Captain Hugo Lloris is also a long term absentee while Yves Bissouma and Ryan Sessegnon are still injured. To make matters worse Pierre-Emile Hojberg is suspended for the game. Antonio Conte will have to play Oliver Skipp and Pape Sarr in midfield. Milan will be without Mike Maignan and Ismael Bennacer while Fikayo Tomori will return from injury. Zlatan Ibrahimovic finally returned to the bench after being absent for a long time due to injury. He was an unused substitute but he could get some minutes against Tottenham.

AC Milan are the 2nd most successful team in Champions League history but they haven’t played in the quarter final of the competition since 2012. This will be a big match for them to try and re-establish themselves as a European force. Tottenham Hotspur on the other hand need some spark to get the season back on track. Antonio Conte as usual will play his trusted 3-4-3 where the midfield is really understaffed. Stefano Pioli has been experimenting a lot with his formation and system so it will be interesting to see which one he goes for.

Also read: Real Madrid could get a much needed boost with the Club World Cup win