Monaco seek final step; Tottenham need to step up

AS Monaco FC are close to the knockout rounds and a draw will be enough against a Tottenham Hotspur FC side who have a fight on their hands after suffering a second home defeat on matchday four.

• Victory will assure the French side of first place as long as Bayer 04 Leverkusen do not win in Moscow on the same night.

• The reverse fixture at Wembley Stadium saw Monaco get their seventh group stage campaign off to a great start with a 2-1 win, courtesy of first-half goals from Bernardo Silva and substitute Thomas Lemar. Toby Alderweireld pulled one back for Spurs.

Previous meetings
• Tottenham eliminated Monaco from last season's UEFA Europa League when beating them 4-1 at White Hart Lane in their final group game last December.

• The teams had earlier drawn 1-1 in France , the first competitive meeting between the teams, Stephan El Shaarawy's 81st-minute goal cancelling out Erik Lamela's first-half strike.

• The lineups at Stade Louis II on 1 October 2015 were:
Monaco: Subašić, Wallace, Toulalan, Elderson, Bernardo Silva (Diarra 65), Pašalić, Bakayoko, Dirar, Moutinho (Lemar 46), Traoré (Mbappé 56), El Shaarawy.
Tottenham: Lloris, Trippier, Alderweireld, Wimmer, Davies, Dier (Bentaleb 42), Carroll, Lamela (Chadli 62), Njié (Alli 79), Onomah, Son.

• In the London fixture, Lamela hit a first-half hat-trick with El Shaarawy also on target again. Tom Carroll added a fourth goal for group winners Spurs.

• Radamel Falcao scored twice, and Harry Kane once, when Monaco beat Tottenham 5-2 in a pre-season friendly in 2013.

Match background

Monaco
• Back in the UEFA Champions League after a season's absence, Monaco followed the win in London with a 1-1 draw at home to Leverkusen.

• On matchday three Lacina Traoré scored for PFC CSKA Moskva against the club that loaned him out in the summer only for Silva to equalise late on in Russia. In the return Falcao hit a first-half double – and his first UEFA Champions League goals since February 2010 - to lead Monaco to a 3-0 success.

• Third in Ligue 1 last season, they came through two qualifying rounds to reach the group stage, beating Fenerbahçe SK (4-3 aggregate) and Villarreal CF (3-1 agg).

• When Monaco lost 2-0 at home to Arsenal FC in the 2014/15 round of 16 (they progressed having won 3-1 away) it was their first defeat in nine European games at Stade Louis II, since a 2-0 loss to PSV Eindhoven in March 2005.

• They were the only goals conceded at home in 2014/15, their other matches in the run to the quarter-finals producing two wins and two draws.

• Monaco beat Chelsea FC 3-1 at home in the 2003/04 semi-finals (5-3 aggregate) and then overcame Liverpool FC 1-0 in the following season's group stage.

• Their home record against English clubs is W3 D2 L2 and overall it is W7 D4 L4.

Tottenham
• Back among the European elite after an absence of five seasons, Tottenham bounced back after their opening night disappointment by winning 1-0 in Moscow through Heung-Min Son's late goal.

• They then drew 0-0 at Leverkusen but again failed to make home advantage count in the return, going down 1-0. With four points, their UEFA Champions League ambitions will end for another season if they pick up fewer points than Leverkusen on matchday five.

• Tottenham reached the last 16 of last season's UEFA Europa League, going down 5-1 on aggregate to Borussia Dortmund, and won only one of their five games on opponents' grounds in the competition.

• Tottenham's record in nine matches against French opposition is W4 D3 L2 (W0 D3 L1 in France).

• Third in the Premier League last season, Spurs are participating in their second UEFA Champions League group stage campaign. They reached the quarter-finals in 2010/11, winning once and drawing twice on the road.

• They are playing their UEFA Champions League home fixtures at Wembley Stadium owing to the impact – on access, capacity and rights delivery – of construction work taking place on a new stadium adjacent to White Hart Lane.

Coach and player links
• Mauricio Pochettino played in French football from 2001 to 2004, with Paris Saint-Germain and FC Girondins de Bordeaux.

• Leonardo Jardim faced Arsenal as Olympiacos FC coach in the 2012/13 group stage, losing 3-1 in London but winning 2-1 at home.

• Hugo Lloris and Moussa Sissoko were in the France side beaten by João Moutinho's Portugal in the final of UEFA EURO 2016.

• Dele Alli hit his first international goal in England's 2-0 win over France in a Wembley friendly in November 2015.

• Tom Carroll and Kane were in the England team beaten 1-0 by Bernardo Silva's Portugal in their opening game at the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

• Ricardo Carvalho faced Tottenham ten times as a player at Chelsea (W4 D4 L2). He scored the only goal in a 1-0 home victory in April 2007 – but the same year lost to Spurs at Wembley in the League Cup final.

• As an OGC Nice player, Lloris faced Monaco five times in the 'Derby de la Côte d'Azur' (W1 D3 L1).

• Lloris and Jérémy Toulalan were team-mates in the Olympique Lyonnais side that won 2-1 at Liverpool FC in the 2009/10 group stage.

• Sissoko scored both goals for Toulouse FC in a 2-0 Ligue 1 win over Monaco in February 2011.

• The two clubs have some notable former players in common: Glenn Hoddle, Dimitar Berbatov, Jürgen Klinsmann and Emmanuel Adebayor.

• Players who have played together:
Lloris, Sissoko & Djibril Sidibé (France)
Lloris & Toulalan (Lyon)

Match facts

Monaco
• Jemerson will incur a suspension with his next booking.

• Monaco have scored six goals or more in a match on three occasions this season, most recently against AS Nancy Lorraine (6-0) on 5 November.

• Falcao has six goals in five appearances for Monaco since returning from a one-month injury lay-off on 21 October.

• Six of Fabinho's seven goals this term have been penalties – all eight of his goals in 2015/16 were spot kicks.

• Thomas Lemar made his senior France debut on 15 November, replacing Adrien Rabiot with 12 minutes remaining, as Les Bleus drew 0-0 with Ivory Coast.

Tottenham
• The Premier League's last unbeaten side, Tottenham were seven matches without a win, five of them draws, prior to Saturday's dramatic 3-2 victory against West Ham United FC. Two late goals from Harry Kane (89, 90+1) turned defeat into victory.

• The north Londoners had only scored three goals, all of them spot kicks, in six matches before the weekend.

• Kane (out since 18 September, right ankle) converted a penalty on his return as Spurs drew 1-1 at local rivals Arsenal FC on 6 November. His winner against West Ham also came from the spot.

• Christian Eriksen scored twice as Denmark defeated Kazakhstan 4-1 in the European Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup on 11 November.