3. A Close Game
Drastic clear-out aside, Anzhi still have a very good squad of both top quality young and experienced Russian internationals, as well as decent players from the Ivory Coast, Brazil and several other solid footballing nations. Spurs and their fans will be expected to go to Makhachkala and win, but it won't be easy. A full Spurs team might be expected to win by a couple of goals, but the team Spurs will be putting out, whilst still very strong thanks to their new found strength in depth, will do well to win by a single goal (and that would be my own prediction for this match, for those who might be interested). I expect Spurs to have the better of the overall play and to come away with a 1-0 or 2-1 victory - either of which would be a great result in such a testing place.