Spurs Hopeful over Fitness of Key Duo

Tottenham host AC Milan in the Champions League this Wednesday evening and are hopeful that key attacking duo Rafael van der Vaart and Gareth Bale will be fit to start.

Bale made his first appearance in six weeks when coming on from the bench in the 3-3 draw with Wolves on Sunday while Van der Vaart could return after picking up an injury the first time the two sides met, a fortnight ago.

The pair have been Spurs’ most potent attacking threats throughout this season and their availability could prove to be pivotal in the outcome of this tie.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has vowed to play an “attacking team” in an attempt to build on their 1-0 lead from the first leg, rather than sit back and defend their slender advantage.

Whilst Spurs were drawing 3-3 with relegation threatened Wolves at the weekend Milan edged a scrappy 1-0 victory over Juventus to go five points clear at the top of Serie A.

We’ve come to expect goals in Champions League fixtures at White Hart Lane – 16 have been scored in five games there this season. However, the Italians defensive strengths have got the bookmakers unsure with how this one will finish and betting odds of 5/6 can be found on there being both under and over 2.5 goals.

However, there is no confusion in the match odds betting market where Tottenham are the strong 5/4 favourites. Milan will need to win in order to progress to the quarter finals of the competition and are 12/5 in the match odds and 11/4 in the to qualify market. It is 5/2 that the game ends in a draw.

Wednesday evening’s other Champions League fixture sees Schalke host Valencia with the teams locked level after a 1-1 draw in the first leg. The German side are slight favourites to progress at odds of 8/11 while the Spanish outfit are 11/10.