Tottenham are back in the Champions League, and their opponents for the upcoming season have been revealed. Manager Thomas Frank is keen to compete on multiple fronts this season, with the fixture calendar now including Champions League and domestic cup games, highlighting the challenge ahead.
Spurs will face Borussia Dortmund, Villarreal, Slavia Praha and Copenhagen at home, while away fixtures include PSG, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bodo/Glimt and Monaco. These eight matches will stretch into January, with the exact order and dates to be announced shortly. The Lilywhites faced PSG in the UEFA Super Cup earlier this month and travelled to Frankfurt and Bodo/Glimt last season in the Europa League quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively. The draw appears more favourable than expected, with familiar opponents and less travel.
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Last season, under former boss Ange Postecoglou, Spurs' squad was pushed to its limits with 60 matches across the campaign. They triumphed in the Europa League and reached the Carabao Cup semi-finals, but a disappointing 17th-place finish in the Premier League and an early FA Cup exit were the result of an injury crisis, subpar performances and Postecoglou's decision to prioritise European competition.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, in dismissing the Australian, made it clear that he expects the club to compete on multiple fronts. Frank now faces a similar fixture congestion, with matches every three to four days most weeks, and the Dane will be hoping for better luck with injuries as well as the club assisting him in the final days of the transfer window to build a stronger squad capable of handling the expanded Champions League format.
This will be a new challenge for Frank as he has never had to balance European football in the middle of a season, his only experience being 10 Europa League qualifying games around a decade ago at Brondby.
Looking at the upcoming fixture schedule, with the addition of Champions League fixtures as well as domestic cup competitions, it's a daunting prospect.
What was already a formidable trio of games against Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal in November now becomes even more challenging when you add a potential Carabao Cup fourth round match days before the game against Chelsea, then Champions League matchday four after it, before the home game against United, and then the journey to the Emirates Stadium after the international break is quickly followed by the next European matchday.
Tottenham Hotspur's fixture list is set to become even more challenging with a series of tough matches from January into February next year against Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle and Arsenal. This is further complicated by the addition of Champions League matchday eight just days before the game against City and a potential Carabao Cup semi-final second leg days after.
Moreover, there could be an FA Cup fourth round match and a potential Champions League knockout phase play-offs first leg tie sandwiched between the games against Newcastle and Arsenal. The second leg of the play-offs could follow just days after the home North London Derby.
Ideally, Spurs will aim to finish in the top eight in the expanded Champions League to avoid the play-offs, but that is easier said than done in Europe's elite club competition.
Tottenham's fixture schedule in full with all Champions League league phase dates