- Oct 17, 2006
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WOLFSBERG 1-4 SPURS
Liendl... Son, Bale, Lucas, Vinicius
Liendl... Son, Bale, Lucas, Vinicius
Spurs: Lloris (C), Doherty, Alderweireld, Dier, Davies, Winks, Sissoko (Hojbjerg), Dele (Ndombele), Bale (Lamela), Lucas (Bergwijn), Son (Vinicius).
Subs: Hart, Whiteman, Sanchez, Tanganga, Lavinier, Bowden Scarlett.
Wolfsberg: Kofler, Novak, Baumgartner, Lochoshvili, Scherzer, Sprangler, Taferner, Liendl, Wernitznig, Joveljic, Vizinger.
Subs: Skubl, Kuttin, Giorbelidze, Henriksson, Peric, Pavelic, Dieng, Rnic, Leitgeb, Stratznig, Rocher, Schofl.
Official Site Match Centre[
Six changes to the team that started against Manchester City on Saturday.
Matt Doherty, Toby Alderweireld, Harry Winks, Moussa Sissoko, Dele and Gareth Bale come in for Japhet Tanganga, Davinson Sanchez, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Tanguy Ndombele, Erik Lamela and Harry Kane. Youngsters Dane Scarlett, Marcel Livinier and Jamie Bowden are all on the bench.
TEAM FORM - Wolfs - LWWLW -------- Spurs LLWLL ---- (All competition)
We will be aiming to get back on track after a humbling defeat at Manchester City when we take on Wolfsberger in the first leg of our Europa League last-32 tie on Thursday evening. We shipped three goals and scored none at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening - a result which marked our fifth defeat in six matches across all competitions after an equally dismal 5-4 loss to Everton in the FA Cup. However, we advanced to the Europa League last 32 as group winners after prevailing in four of our six Group J matches, and our first-leg meeting with Austrian outfit Wolfsberger will take place at the Puskas Arena in Budapest due to coronavirus travel restrictions.
Wolfsberger have been in good form in Austria. They’ve lost just a couple of matches since the start of December. They qualified through Group K, finishing above Feyenoord and CSKA Moscow in the process. We have been on a poor run as we’ve lost a string of matches since the end of January and were recently knocked out of the FA Cup by Everton. It was a pleasing qualification campaign for Wolfsberger. It’s just the third time that the Austrian side has taken part in this competition and the second time they’ve made it to the group stages. They finished bottom in a hugely competitive group that featured Roma, Borussia Monchengladbach, and the Turkish champions, Istanbul Basaksehir. They looked to be heading for an early exit this time around but a couple of 1-0 wins in their last two group stage matches secured second spot in Group K.
We have never met in a European competition before. That’s hardly a surprise considering that this is just the third season that Wolfsberger have been involved in a UEFA competition. We were drawn against another side from Austria in the group stage. We beat LASK 3-0 in London and drew 3-3 in the return fixture in Austria. Wolfsberg kept things much tighter in qualification this season. They had an average of 2.50 total match goals in their group matches in last season’s Europa League. That figure dropped to 2.10 this season.
Things were a little more open for us. We had an average of 3.33 total match goals in our six group stage matches. That followed on from our qualification campaign. We have been an open side in the Europa League throughout. We’ve had an average of 4.00 total match goals in our Europa League games since the first qualifier back in mid-September. This is a big chance for us. We haven’t won a major trophy since 2008 and we are without a European honour since 1984. Mourinho won this competition with Manchester United back in 2017. This competition is probably our best chance of reaching the UEFA Champions League next season.
We have been involved in some high-scoring matches during the Europa League this season. Much like their opponents, the majority of the goals went in after the halftime interval. 21 goals went in during the second halves of Spurs’ matches in the Europa League this season compared to 15 before the break. Wolfsberg were hardly prolific in the group stages. Four of the seven goals they scored were from the penalty spot so it may not be worth backing them to score too many. At the other end, we have scored three goals in three of our last four Europa League away matches.
Sergio Reguilon has been out of action since the end of January with a muscular problem, but Mourinho has offered hope that the left-back could return in time for Thursday's game. Serge Aurier has missed our last two defeats after limping off with a calf problem against West Bromwich Albion, but he is thought to have a good chance of returning against Wolfsberger. Giovani Lo Celso sustained a hamstring injury against Leicester City back in December and has not played since. It would be a surprise to see the Argentinian midfielder return to action before the end of the month.
Banner courtesy of @chrissivad
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