Paul Merson believes Tottenham are in with a big shout of reaching Champions League final

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Paul Merson insists that Tottenham have a “big shout” of reaching the Champions League final despite losing to Ajax in the first leg of their semi-final.

Spurs were beaten at home 1-0 on Tuesday night, with Donny van de Beek scoring the only goal in the first-half.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side were perhaps fortunate not to concede more when the Dutch side were on top, but did grow into the game themselves and were stronger second-half.

The North London club have a vital Premier League game with Bournemouth to negotiate on Saturday first, but then attention will move to next Wednesday.

Spurs travel to Ajax for the second leg and are one victory away from making the final of Europe’s elite club competition.

Sky Sports pundit Merson is confident that the Premier League team can turnaround the deficit and have a good chance of winning the tie.

He believes that a young Ajax outfit are going to feel the nerves and that it could play a key role.

“DON’T rule Tottenham out of the Champions League final just yet. I think they are still in with a big shout against Ajax,” Merson wrote in the Daily Star.

“This is a young Ajax team. They have been playing with no fear. But they have one foot in the final now and they will get nervous.

“They will probably have to score again because I think Spurs will get one in Amsterdam. Tottenham can still turn this around.”

TBR’s View:

Ajax have shown no fear on their way to the semi-finals, with wins over Juventus and Real Madrid already in the knockout rounds of this season’s competition.

They play some dazzling football with young players and showed in patches away to Spurs how dangerous they are.

But Pochettino’s team possess quality too and the return of attacker Heung-Min Son from suspension is a massive one.

They got past Manchester City in the quarter-finals in dramatic fashion and are capable of a big performance on the road.

It will be interesting to see what sort of team Pochettino names Saturday lunchtime against Bournemouth, as surely one eye will be on next week’s European showdown.