Thomas Frank is striving to see past the current cloud hanging over Tottenham. Despite the team’s dismal recent performances, disheartened supporters, a slew of injured players, and the unexpected drama of Randal Kolo Muani’s tire mishap, Frank’s focus remains on the potential opportunity ahead.

Wednesday’s match against Eintracht Frankfurt offers a glimmer of hope. A victory would secure Spurs a spot in the last 16 of the Champions League, a reason to celebrate amid the prevailing negativity.

“I see an opportunity before us,” Frank expressed, highlighting some encouraging fitness news with Pape Matar Sarr and Joao Paulinha returning to the lineup. “We have a solid chance to reach the top eight, which would be an excellent outcome, a significant achievement.”

Frank added, “We have 11 players on the field and a promising group from the academy ready to step in. We’re confident about our chances of delivering a good result, which is precisely what we’re aiming for.”

The scenario closely mirrors the Europa League quarter-final back in April. At that time, Tottenham, under the management of Ange Postecoglou, sat 15th in the Premier League. They faced Eintracht in the second leg after suffering a harsh 4-2 defeat at Wolverhampton, with injuries mounting and fans growing increasingly restless.

Thomas Frank has insisted he sees ‘an opportunity’ ahead despite the continued pressure on his job

Spurs were 15th in the Premier League under Ange Postecoglou at the time and travelled to face Eintracht in the second leg of the tie on the back of a crushing 4-2 defeat at Wolverhampton, injuries biting and fans increasingly disenchanted.

Postecoglou sat in the same seat in the same room at the Deutsche Bank Park talking about seizing the opportunity despite adversity and transforming a bad season into one never to be forgotten.

They won 1-0, a hard fought victory courtesy of a Dominic Solanke penalty, and went on to a night of triumph in Bilbao. 

They may have a different head coach now, and one with wildly divergent tactical principles to his predecessor, but Spurs still have a squad seemingly incapable of handling the physical and mental demands of two elite competitions in tandem.

Again, they wallow in the lower reaches of the Premier League. Frank’s team are currently 14th and Manchester City are the next visitors to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. Meanwhile, West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Leeds are closing in the rear-view mirror.

Again, there are injury absences compounded by the ineligibility of others in Europe because poor recruitment decisions created a misshapen squad so of 16 who appeared at Burnley on Saturday, four are fit but cannot play in the Champions League – Conor Gallagher, Yves Bissouma, Radu Dragusin and Mathys Tel.

With Pedro Porro the latest injury victim, out for four weeks with a hamstring injury, and Micky van de Ven sitting this one out in the hope of being ready to take on Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday, it leaves Frank to work with only 11 senior outfield players.

These include Kolo Muani and Wilson Odobert who were delayed on route to Frankfurt by an accident. One of the tyres on Kolo Muani’s Ferrari Purosangue burst on the motorway on the way from the Spurs training ground near Enfield to Stansted Airport. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.

Tottenham could qualify for the last-16 in the Champions League this week but continue to struggle in the Premier League

Players had permission to take their cars to the airport because they had a day off planned for Thursday. Odobert, who had been travelling in his own vehicle, pulled over to help his team-mate. Both were delayed, although both were expected to arrive at the team hotel in Germany last night and be available for the game.

European results have, like last season, been in stark contrast to domestic form and provide a glimmer of optimism.

Spurs, awful at home in the Premier League, have won all their home games in the Champions League, although they have not won away in Europe.

They have drawn at Bodo/Glimt and Monaco, fortunate on both occasions, and lost 5-3 at Paris Saint-Germain.

The best of the Champions League results came last week, a 2-0 win at home against Borussia Dortmund when Frank was so short of players he finished the game with 17-year-old Jun’ai Byfield making his debut at the back.

Frank added: ‘I’m very happy that the team and club are in a position where with a win we can finish top eight in the best club tournament in the world. It’s super, super competitive, as we know. So that, we are very pleased with.

‘Those results and some of those performances are also what we need to take going forward, of course, and build on that.

‘Again, it’s my job to look a little bit in the bigger perspective. Even though we haven’t won as much as we want, it’s very, very few things that need to go our way, the small margins, keep doing the right thing, keep improving things we want to do, getting quality players back.’

Randal Kolo Muani had a car accident on the way to the airport when a tyre blew out on his Ferrari on the M25

Eintracht have their own problems. Winless since mid-December, they sacked Dino Toppmoller after two-and-a-half years in charge when he failed to halt a poor run of form coming out of the winter break.

They have lost both games since under interim boss Dennis Schmidt, including last week’s defeat by Qarabag in Azerbaijan, confirming their exit at this stage from the Champions League.

Schmidt is expected to make changes to the team against Spurs to priortise Saturday’s Bundesliga game against Bayer Leverkusen with former Liverpool player Albert Riera tipped in the German media as Toppmoller’s permanent replacement.

Eintracht’s woe represents opportunity and relief for Spurs if they can grasp it.