Tottenham v Olympiacos facts

Last season's runners-up Tottenham Hotspur are closing in on a return to the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds as they welcome Olympiacos to north London in the penultimate round of Group B fixtures.

• The Greek club produced a memorable fightback at home to Spurs on Matchday 1, Daniel Podence and Mathieu Valbuena (penalty) salvaging a draw after the visitors had taken a two-goal lead through Harry Kane – also from the spot – and Lucas Moura. That has proved a rare highlight for Olympiacos this season, however, with defeats in their last three fixtures.

• Spurs, who replaced Mauricio Pochettino with José Mourinho as manager on 20 November, have recovered from picking up only one point from their first two matches to take a firm grip on second place in the section thanks to home and away wins against Crvena zvezda, giving them a four-point cushion over the Serbian champions. The London club will therefore guarantee progress with a win, or if they draw and Crvena zvezda fail to win at home to already-qualified section leaders Bayern München.

• Olympiacos will be unable to finish in the top two if they do not beat Spurs and will be confirmed in fourth place if they do not win and Crvena zvezda beat Bayern.

Previous meetings
• The clubs' only fixtures before this season came 47 years ago, in the 1972/73 UEFA Cup second round. Holders Spurs effectively sealed progress with a 4-0 win at White Hart Lane, Jimmy Pearce scoring twice with Martin Chivers and Ralph Coates also on target; a Roman Arguroidis goal gave Olympiacos some pride via a 1-0 second-leg victory.

Form guide
Tottenham
• After drawing at Olympiacos, Spurs were beaten 7-2 in London by Bayern – the first time in the club's 137-year history that they had conceded seven goals at home in any competition. They recovered in style, however, with a 5-0 home win against Crvena zvezda that represented their biggest win in the UEFA Champions League and a 4-0 victory in Belgrade last time out that was also Spurs' record away success in the competition.

• In last season's UEFA Champions League, Pochettino's side recovered from taking one point from their first three games to finish second in Group B behind Barcelona, ahead of Internazionale and PSV Eindhoven, via a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou on Matchday 6. Borussia Dortmund were then brushed aside in the round of 16 (3-0 h, 1-0 a) before dramatic away-goal victories against both Manchester City (1-0 h, 3-4 a) and Ajax (0-1 h, 3-2 a) took Spurs into a first European Cup final. Premier League rivals Liverpool proved too strong at the Estadio Metropolitano, however, running out 2-0 winners.

• Spurs had won only one of six games in the UEFA Champions League (D1 L4) before the pair of victories against Crvena zvezda.

• In last season's group stage, Pochettino's side lost 4-2 to Barcelona in their first home game, but beat PSV (2-1) and Internazionale (1-0) in the next two. All those games took place at Wembley Stadium – as did the round of 16 home win against Dortmund.

• The London club have won nine of their last 13 UEFA Champions League home matches, losing the other four. They have drawn only once at home in the competition – 0-0 against AC Milan in the 2010/11 round of 16 (1-0 aggregate). Spurs' record in their new stadium is W2 L2.

• Tottenham are unbeaten in their last five matches against Greek clubs (W3 D2), since a 2-1 loss against PAOK in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League group stage that is their only home defeat; they have won the other three home games, all at White Hart Lane, most recently a 5-1 success against Asteras Tripolis in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League group stage in which Kane scored his first Spurs hat-trick, Erik Lamela getting the other two goals.

Olympiacos
• The Piraeus club have lost their last three Group B games; on Matchday 2 Crvena zvezda ran out 3-1 winners in Belgrade after Olympiacos had led, before Bayern got the better of them 3-2 in Greece and 2-0 at home.

• Second in the 2018/19 Greek Super League behind PAOK, Pedro Martins' side were unbeaten in this season's UEFA Champions League before losing on Matchday 2, having kicked off in the second qualifying round. They beat Viktoria Plzeň (0-0 a, 4-0 h) and İstanbul Başakşehir in the third qualifying round (1-0 a, 2-0 h) before overcoming Krasnodar in the play-offs (4-0 h, 2-1 a) and then drawing with Spurs.

• The point from Matchday 1 equalled the Greek side's six-match total from their last UEFA Champions League group stage campaign in 2017/18, when they finished bottom of a section including Barcelona, Juventus and Sporting CP.

• In 2018/19 Olympiacos went from the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round to the round of 32 thanks to a memorable Matchday 6 defeat of AC Milan in Piraeus. They were unable to get past Dynamo Kyiv in the first knockout round, however, going out 3-2 on aggregate (2-2 h, 0-1 a).

• Olympiacos have lost their last six away games in the UEFA Champions League group stage, since a 1-0 success at Dinamo Zagreb in October 2015; that is only their second win in their last 12 such fixtures (L10), the other a 3-2 victory at Spurs' great rivals Arsenal in the same season.

• Olympiacos last visited England in last season's UEFA Europa League play-offs, drawing 1-1 at Burnley thanks to a Daniel Podence goal to complete a 4-2 aggregate success. Having lost on each of their first 12 visits to England, conceding 37 goals and scoring only three, that made it two games unbeaten following the 2015 success at Arsenal.

Links and trivia
• Have played in England:
Omar Elabdellaoui (Hull 2017 (loan))
Andreas Bouchalakis (Nottingham Forest 2017/18 (loan))

• Have played together:
Hugo Lloris & Mathieu Valbuena (France 2010–15)
Moussa Sissoko & Mathieu Valbuena (France 2012–15)
Erik Lamela & Vasilis Torosidis (Roma 2012/13)
Eric Dier & Rúben Semedo, Daniel Podence (Sporting CP 2013/14)
Giovani Lo Celso & Maximiliano Lovera (Rosario 2016)

Latest news

Tottenham
• On 19 November, Tottenham parted company with manager Mauricio Pochettino. The following day, they appointed José Mourinho on a contract until summer 2022.

• Mourinho's first game as Spurs boss ended in a 3-2 win at West Ham on Saturday, their first away victory in the Premier League since 20 January. Tottenham's away league record in between those two matches was D3 L9.

• Harry Kane scored what proved to be the winner on Saturday, putting Spurs three up before a late West Ham rally. Kane now has 175 goals for the club, behind only Jimmy Greaves (266) and Bobby Smith (208) in the all-time scorers' chart. 

• Kane has 21 goals in 21 appearances for club and country this season, six of them penalties.

• Saturday was only Spurs' third win in their last nine matches in all competitions (D3 L3), the other two victories coming against Crvena zvezda on Matchdays 3 and 4. They have conceded 17 goals in that sequence, scoring 18.

• Spurs have won just four of their first 13 Premier League matches this season, all bar Saturday's victory at home; their record otherwise is D5 L4.

• Tottenham have picked up only 28 points from their last 25 Premier League games.

• Having shipped seven goals at home to Bayern on Matchday 2, Spurs were beaten 3-0 at Brighton on 5 October, conceding ten goals in two matches for the first time since December 1997.

• Kane scored a hat-trick as England qualified for UEFA EURO 2020 with a 7-0 win at home to Montenegro against 14 November; he was also on target in the 4-0 success in Kosovo three days later, meaning he had found the net in all eight qualifiers and scored 12 times for England in 2019, equalling the national record and making him the top scorer in UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying overall. Kane now has 32 goals for England, sixth on the all-time list.

• Harry Winks scored his first goal for England in Kosovo.

• Christian Eriksen was in the Denmark side that drew 1-1 away to the Republic of Ireland on 18 November to book their place at UEFA EURO 2020. He had scored twice in a 6-0 home win against Gibraltar three days earlier.

• Ben Davies helped Wales qualify for UEFA EURO 2020 with a 2-0 win against Hungary in Cardiff on 19 November.

• The same day, Serge Aurier's goal was not enough to prevent Ivory Coast slipping to a 2-1 defeat against Ethiopia in CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.

• Troy Parrott made his Ireland debut aged 17 in a 3-1 friendly win against New Zealand on 14 November.

• Tanguy Ndombele missed Saturday's match with a groin problem.

• Hugo Lloris is not expected to play again this year having dislocated his elbow at Brighton; he underwent surgery on 7 November.

• Erik Lamela suffered a thigh injury in training on 26 October and has not played since, while Jan Vertonghen has been out since Matchday 3 due to a hamstring strain.

• Michel Vorm, who left Spurs at the end of 2018/19, rejoined as a free agent on 14 October, signing a deal until the end of the season.

Olympiacos
• Olympiacos's record this season is now W13 D5 L3, with 37 goals scored and 15 conceded. Eleven of those goals have been conceded in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage.

• The Piraeus club remain undefeated in this season's Super League, having dropped points only in three away encounters: against Panathinaikos (1-1), Xanthi (0-0) and, on Saturday, Panionios.

• Olympiacos have won only one of their last six away matches in all competitions (D3 L2).

• Olympiacos have conceded just four goals in the first 11 matches of the Super League season.

• Mathieu Valbuena suffered a right hamstring strain during training on 18 October, returning to action at Bayern on Matchday 4; he gave Olympiacos the lead at Panionios at the weekend before the home side's late leveller. The Frenchman remains the oldest player to have scored in this season's UEFA Champions League thanks to his Matchday 1 penalty against Tottenham.

• Guilherme complained of a sore right quadriceps on 18 November and was an unused substitute on Saturday.

• Pape Abou Cissé has not played since 14 September and spent 17 days in hospital with a respiratory infection. He is expected to return to action in December.

• Olympiacos captain Kostas Fortounis is expected to be out of action until March 2020 after suffering a knee ligament injury in a pre-season friendly against Hamburg on 10 July.

• Lazaros Christodoulopoulos has been sidelined since 17 February with a cruciate knee ligament injury and has not been included in this season's UEFA Champions League squad. He has resumed full training and is expected to be back in action next month.

• Youssef El Arabi made his first Morocco appearance since January 2017 on 15 November, coming on as a late substitute against Mauritania in CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying (0-0). 

• Yassine Meriah made it 35 consecutive games for Tunisia with his appearances against Libya (4-1) and Equatorial Guinea (1-0) in CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.

• On 23 October, Olympiacos announced that former goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis has been appointed director of their youth academy and will also take charge of the club's Under-19 side.