Nicolas Pepe has started the season in brilliant form for Villarreal, so much so that he was awarded player of the month for August in LaLiga, making him the first Villarreal player to win the award since Nicolas Jackson back in May 2023.

He’s scored two goals and provided one assist across his four appearances in LaLiga this campaign. He’s managed 10 shots across these games (3.06 per 90) with an impressive seven of these attempts finding the target (2.14 per 90). He’s been playing as part of a front two with Georges Mikautadze, which is a role that gives him a solid chance of finding the target here.

Pepe was also a shot threat last season. He’s already just one goal away from matching his goal tally in LaLiga from last season, but had 38 shots across his 15 starts (2.29 per 90) with 17 of these efforts finding the target (1.02 per 90).

Romero has committed four fouls across his four Premier League appearances this season, three of which come in the opening game of the season against Burnley, but Romero’s general temperament should see this record become more spread out across several matches as the season progresses.

He committed a foul against Manchester City to add to the three he committed against the Clarets very early on in the campaign. Romero is naturally quite an aggressive player and can leave his mark on players - he averaged 0.89 fouls committed per 90 in the Premier League last season, with this record notably jumping to 1.57 fouls committed per 90 when looking at his seven appearances in the Europa League.

Romero is set to line up against Georges Mikautadze, who won three fouls against Athletic Club in his only appearance for Villarreal so far this season, having made the move from Lyon over the summer.

Tottenham's 3-0 win over West Ham last time out will have lifted spirits again, but their performance at home against Bournemouth before the international break highlighted some of the issues that Spurs may face this season.

Tottenham aren’t blessed with the same depth that some of their other Premier League rivals can boast, and won’t be given the luxury of rotating as often in the Champions League. This will lead to fatigue and potentially a few end-to-end games as players tire in the latter stages.

Villarreal have scored eight goals across their four La Liga matches this season (2.0 per game). Only Barcelona (45) picked up more points than Villarreal (36) on the road in La Liga last season, with Villarreal scoring 28 goals across these 19 matches (1.47 per game). 

Tottenham will be encouraged by the fact that Villarreal did concede 24 goals across these games, so there is certainly scope for both sides to find the back of the net in gameweek one of the league phase of the Champions League. I expect there to be a few goals in this one, with both teams potentially contributing to the scoreline.

Despite my belief that Villarreal will be able to score here, I do think Tottenham have shown enough in their early games under Frank to suggest that they’ll come away with a positive result here.

Tottenham have won three of their four Premier League matches so far this season. These wins have come against West Ham, Manchester City, and Burnley, with the most notable aspect being that Tottenham have managed to keep a clean sheet in all of these games. 

This is notable because Tottenham could barely keep a clean sheet in the Premier League under Ange Postecoglu last season, so it is a pretty drastic change. 

Villarreal have been really strong in their home games so far this season, but have found the away trips a little more difficult. They drew against Celta Vigo on the road, seeing BTTS, before falling to a 2-0 defeat against Atletico Madrid on the road last time out.

I’ve been really impressed with Kudus in a Tottenham shirt so far, with the former West Ham winger providing two assists across his four Premier League appearances for Tottenham so far this season.

He’s had six shots and created nine chances across these appearances, so he's been pretty heavily involved in a lot of the positive actions that Tottenham have been putting together in the final third in the early parts of this campaign. 

Kudus has played in Europe before, featuring for West Ham in the Europa League. He scored five goals across his nine appearances in the competition in that season and is a player who can make the step up to the Champions League, having shown his quality in the Premier League over the last few seasons.

Partey has committed three fouls across his 139 minutes of LaLiga football so far this season (1.94 per 90). This is set to be his toughest assignment of the season so far when he returns to North London to take on a side that he clashed with regularly during his time at Arsenal.

Partey received four yellow cards across his 31 Premier League starts for Arsenal last season. He probably should have ended the campaign with a few more cautions when factoring in his playstyle and foul record (1.45 per 90).

The Arsenal connection should also aid this bet; the crowd will certainly remind Partey of his previous affiliation with every touch he has of the ball on Tuesday evening. Partey received three yellow cards across his 11 appearances in the Champions League last season.

Somehow, Joao Palhinha has avoided a booking up until now for Tottenham, having made the move from Bayern Munich over the summer. I thought more Premier League sides should have considered Palhinha; he’s perfectly suited to the Premier League, and his occasionally reckless nature suits our selection here.

Palhinha has committed three fouls across his three Premier League starts so far this season (1.11 per 90). This is quite a modest total for a player like Palhinha, but I do expect it to increase as we progress in the Premier League and other competitions.

Palhinha received 13 yellow cards the last time he was in the Premier League for Fulham, which is why it is a tad surprising that we haven’t seen his name taken down yet. This could be the perfect environment for Palhinha to receive his first booking of the season, which doesn’t look to be too far away.