Tottenham Hotspur make their return to the Champions League on Wednesday evening as Antonio Conte's side host French side Marseille.
After pipping north London rivals Arsenal to the fourth place spot in the Premier League last season, Spurs qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time since the 2019/20 season. Conte's side were drawn into Group D with Frankfurt, Sporting Lisbon and Marseille, with the Ligue 1 side Spurs' first opponents this campaign.
Conte's side made the Champions League final in the 2018/19 season, where they lost 2-0 to Liverpool in Madrid, and the Lilywhites will be hoping for a similar run in the competition this time round. Spurs have had a strong start to their Premier League campaign, sitting one point off the top spot with the second-best defensive record in the league.
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Lucas Moura is set to miss the game through injury, whilst Bryan Gil remains a doubt. After dropping out on the weekend, Dejan Kulusevki, Ivan Perisic and Ben Davies could return to the starting XI on Wednesday.
So, can Spurs find a win in their first game of their 2022/23 Champions League season? We simulated the clash to find out.
Tottenham vs Marseille score predicted by simulation
To run this simulation, we used FIFA 22, updating the squads with the latest transfers made in this window. Both sides lined up in their 2021/22 kits, as FIFA 22 does not provide the 2022/23 ones.
We predict that Spurs will line up in a 3-4-3 formation, with the lineup looking as follows: Lloris; Romero, Dier, Lenglet; Doherty, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Perisic; Kulusevski, Kane, Son.
We predict that Marseille will line up in a 3-4-2-1 formation, with the lineup looking as follows: Lopez; Mbemba, Balerdi, Kolasinac; Clauss, Rongier, Veretout, Tavares; Gerson, Guendouzi; Suarez.
Tottenham started this simulated game well and created some early chances, but some good defending by the away side kept Spurs at bay. That was at least until the 34th minute, when Heung-Min Son broke the deadlock.
Dejan Kulusevski showed some quick feet to get by a few defenders on the right before getting a cross in at the byline, which found Son, and the striker made no mistake from around the penalty spot.
After the break, the home side continued to threaten and quickly put the game beyond the Ligue 1 side with two quick-fire goals. The first goal came from some great work from Kulusevski once again, who got into the box and committed a defender before laying the ball off to Kane, who had the easiest of finishes.
Spurs made it 3-0 in the 77th minute through Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who finished a good team move with an effort from just outside the area. Marseille did grab one back late on through Gerson in the 89th minute, reducing the deficit slightly, but Son managed to get his second of the game in added time to extend Spurs' lead once again.
FIFA 22 score prediction: Spurs 4-1 Marseille
Here are the full-time match stats.
FIFA 22 predicts that Tottenham should have far too much quality for Marseille on Wednesday evening, with Kulusevski, Kane and Son capable of putting the Ligue 1 side to the sword this midweek. Spurs' far superior xG backs this up in the simulation. However, the simulation also predicts that the French side could grab a goal at some stage, so Spurs will need to be clinical if they want to begin their 2022/23 Champions League campaign with a win.
What do you think the score could be on Wednesday night? Let us know in the comments below!
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