Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Slavia Prague

Belatedly back to winning ways on home soil, Tottenham Hotspur seek successive victories in all competitions when Slavia Prague pay a visit to North London for Tuesday's Champions League league-phase clash.

The Lilywhites ran out 2-0 victors against Brentford in Saturday's Premier League London derby and now come up against Czech foes who are still waiting for their first UCL win of the campaign.

Match preview

Continuing their commitment to frenetic matches against Paris Saint-Germain - after a four-goal thriller and penalty-shootout defeat in this summer's UEFA Super Cup - Tottenham came out on the wrong end of an eight-goal extravaganza with the reigning European champions on matchday five.

Thomas Frank's men travelled across the Channel on the back of their atrocious North London derby loss to Arsenal, but while they kicked their attacking endeavour up a notch in Paris, their defensive deficiencies cost them dear in a 5-3 beating.

Spurs' reverse at the Parc des Princes marked the end of their unbeaten start to this year's Champions League, but a respectable total of eight points has the hosts still inside the seeded playoff places in 16th, and just two points off the automatic last-16 places.

Also unblemished at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the 2025-26 UCL - beating Villarreal and Copenhagen without conceding - Spurs are on a magnificent 22-game unbeaten run in home European matches, and the Lilywhites are also just one goal away from hitting 100 in the Champions League.

Frank previously could not buy a Premier League victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but Saturday's success over London derby rivals Brentford brought the feel-good factor back to North London, as the Lilywhites snapped a five-game winless sequence across all tournaments.

Already succumbing to the superiority of one North London club this season - being condemned to a 3-0 home loss to Premier League leaders Arsenal - upcoming visitors Slavia Prague are trudging towards an early Champions League elimination.

The long-serving Jindrich Trpisovsky is yet to lead his players to a league-phase win, overseeing three draws and two defeats to collect a paltry three points, which have left the Czech giants outside of the playoff places in 31st spot.

Slavia Prague held Atalanta BC and Athletic Bilbao to respectable 0-0 draws either side of their Arsenal pummelling, but it has now been a little over 18 years since they won a top-level European match - a 2-1 victory over Steaua Bucharest in September 2007.

Since then, Slavia have tried and failed 16 times to succeed in the Champions League, where they have also failed to score in each of their last four matches, so the time is nigh for the visitors to translate domestic dominance into European points.

Trpisovsky's men are on a five-game winning streak in the Czech top flight after edging out Teplice 2-1 on Friday - thus maintaining a five-point lead over Sparta Prague at the top of the table - but meetings with Tottenham do not trigger fond memories.

Slavia Prague and Tottenham previously squared off in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 UEFA Cup campaigns - meeting in the first round of the former and the last 32 of the latter - and the Lilywhites came through those four fixtures with three wins and one draw under their belts.

Tottenham Hotspur Champions League form:

Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

Slavia Prague Champions League form:

Slavia Prague form (all competitions):

Team News

Spurs left-back Destiny Udogie was an unexpected omission from the team sheet for the visit of Brentford, and Frank revealed afterwards that the Italy international had sustained a soft tissue problem, albeit a minor one.

Nevertheless, Udogie will likely be spared for the visit of Slavia Prague, which James Maddison (ACL), Dejan Kulusevski (knee), Kota Takai (thigh), Dominic Solanke (ankle), Radu Dragusin (knee) and ankle victim Yves Bissouma - who is also being investigated for an alleged laughing gas video - will also miss.

Brennan Johnson is at least eligible again following a European ban, but Micky van de Ven, Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani will miss the matchday seven meeting with Borussia Dortmund if they are booked on Tuesday.

On Slavia Prague's end, the visitors were recently boosted by the return of Slovakian winger Ivan Schranz - scorer of a memorable goal against England at Euro 2024 - from an unspecified injury.

However, Liberian midfielder Oscar (muscle), Filip Horsky (ACL), Petr Sevcik (ACL) and Dominik Javorcek (knee) are on the sidelines, while key attacker Tomas Chory is doubtful due to illness.

Ex-Luton Town defender Daiki Hashioka will likely be on the bench for the visitors, whose line will be led by Mojmir Chytil, scorer of back-to-back braces in his last two league games.

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Vicario; Porro, Danso, Van de Ven, Spence; Palhinha, Bergvall; Johnson, Simons, Odobert; Richarlison

Slavia Prague possible starting lineup:

Stanek; Zima, Holes, Chaloupek; Doudera, Sadilek, Zafeiris, Boril; Schranz, Chytil, Provod

We say: Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Slavia Prague

Shutting out Atalanta and Athletic is no mean feat in the Champions League, but Slavia's resistance will surely prove futile in North London.

Spurs have often played with the handbrake off in this season's competition, and Frank should oversee a straightforward success, one that will reignite Tottenham's top-eight charge.