View: What Tottenham can expect from Atletico Madrid and keys to victory

Tottenham Hotspur put their Premier League relegation battle on hold for their Champions League campaign on Tuesday night.

Igor Tudor’s side are hoping it will be a welcome distraction too, as Tottenham have been faring considerably better in Europe this season than in the Premier League.

It will be fascinating to see how much value Tudor puts on progressing in the Champions League, as the priority from within the Spurs boardroom simply has to be on the avoiding relegation to the Championship.

Atletico present a big test for Tottenham on Tuesday night, as Diego Simeone’s side are notoriously difficult to play against, but there are some clear keys to a Spurs result.

Tottenham must be prepared for physical Atletico battle

Tudor is predicted to make changes against Atletico, as he looks to balance energy levels across what is a Tottenham side that is dealing with a host of injuries.

Atletico, on the other hand, have a largely clean bill of health, and are coming into the game off the back of a big 3-2 win over Real Sociedad in LaLiga on Saturday.

In typical Simeone fashion, Atletico are extremely well-drilled in defence, conceding just 25 times in the league this season, but they have shipped five goals in their last two games against Sociedad and Barcelona respectively.

However, it’s the physical side of the game – and perhaps the dark arts – that Simeone’s team are masters of, and have built a reputation on being so across European football for a number of years now

As such, Spurs will have to be ready for a combative game of football, and if they don’t rise to it, then Atletico could bully them off the Metropolitano pitch.

Where Atletico will look to hurt Tottenham

So, we know they’re a well-organised and physical side in defence, but how will Atletico look to hurt Tottenham in attack?

Well, as per Sofascore, Simeone’s side average a good 1.7 goals per game in LaLiga this season, with 45 goals scored, and they also average 55 per cent possession per game too, so they are a good footballing side.

37 of those have come from inside the box, with only five from outside, so Atletico are likely going to want to get the ball in the box as much as possible, and don’t perhaps pose much of a threat from range.

They are capable of finding a range of avenues to goal though, with 17 goals scored from both left and right-footed efforts, whilst they’ve also scored eight headers in the league this season too.

Atletico also average an impressive 6.8 corners per game in LaLiga, so expect Simeone’s team to also pose a significant threat from that department too.

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