Igor Tudor given big Tottenham opportunity ahead of crunch Nottingham Forest showdown | OneFootball

Spurs can use Champions League game with Atletico Madrid to help prepare for relegation clash

Spurs face relegation rivals Nottingham Forest on Sunday

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Last season, the European campaign was near enough the sole source of joy for Tottenham.

These are desperate times, though, and no such luxury exists for Spurs this season.

Never before can a last-16 tie against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League have felt so much like an early undercard fight for the main event of a match at home to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

That is the reality facing Spurs, a reality that Igor Tudor alluded to at his pre-match press conference ahead of the second leg against Atletico.

Spurs are 5-2 down from the first leg against Atletico Madrid

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"The main goal is to be focused on this game, even knowing our first thing is to stay in the league," Tudor admitted.

Spurs are just one point ahead of West Ham and Forest in the relegation battle and it is hard to overstate the importance of Sunday's match.

After hosting Forest, Spurs do not play for three weeks. Lose and there is every chance they spend that period in the relegation zone, likely looking for a new manager.

Win, though, and there will be some breathing room and a sense of some of the tension being lifted from a suffocating situation.

Atletico's visit to north London tonight is not necessarily one Spurs want. After a much-improved display to earn a point at Anfield on Sunday, Spurs would ideally go straight into that Forest showdown.

The feeling around the club is more positive and the main challenge is keeping it that way. A 5-2 first-leg deficit is unlikely to be overcome, but the match can still be very useful.

With that significant aggregate lead in their pocket, Atletico have no real need to come and attack Spurs. They will be content to let the hosts have plenty of the ball and pick their moments on the counter.

That will likely be the approach Forest try and deploy on Sunday. Spurs were very direct against Liverpool and spent large periods out of possession, but they need to show another side to their game.

Wednesday’s match could still be very useful for Spurs

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When the onus is on them to take the game to the opposition, particularly at home, they need to find a way to break down defences. Tonight will be a good test of that.

What system Tudor opts for will also be revealing. He switched away from his preferred back-three against Liverpool and Spurs responded by producing by far their best performance under him.

However, that came after Conor Gallagher pulled out late with sickness. Had he been available, Tudor perhaps would have stuck with the back-three.

"I don’t speak about these things before the game and after the game there’s no reason to speak about these things," he said on Tuesday when that was put to him.

The sense is that Tudor stumbled across a more effective system. He surely needs to stick with that against Atletico and further drill it in before Forest's visit.

Lucas Bergvall and Destiny Udogie are both back from injury and are expected to be on the bench. Regardless of the state of the tie, the opportunity to give the pair second-half minutes is a welcome one.

It is a chance in particular to test Udogie's fitness after a hamstring injury. Tudor's line-ups have not quite looked right in wide areas but Udogie's availability would add balance at both ends of the pitch. Getting him fit for Forest would be huge.

For all Spurs' home form domestically is pathetic, in Europe they have remarkably gone 24 matches without defeat on home soil.

Spurs fans do not expect their side to progress tonight but a positive performance, perhaps with a win on the night, would build real momentum before the weekend.

That is what matters most right now. This could be Spurs' last Champions League match for years - how many years will be determined by occasions like Sunday.