Tottenham start their Europa League campaign on Thursday evening with a home clash against Qarabag. The game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the first of eight fixtures for the north London club in the newly-formed league phase of UEFA’s second club competition.
Following this week’s home encounter against Qarabag, Ange Postecoglou’s men have further games to come against Ferencvaros, AZ Alkmaar, Galatasaray, Roma, Rangers, Hoffenheim and Elfsborg as they look to secure their place in the knockout phase of the competition. Due to the significant increase in matches on their calendar after not playing in Europe at all last season, the Spurs boss has the opportunity to make full use of his squad by rotating his players for their European games.
So how exactly should Tottenham line up on Thursday night against Qarabag? Our Tottenham writers at football.london have had their say below.
There’s a real chance here for Ange Postecoglou to give plenty of players minutes and that could come in useful in the weeks ahead. Spurs face a game every three or four days but in this match against Qarabag, the first of eight league phase games, the risk is minimal. Even a draw or a defeat is not the end of the world and can be fixed in the months to come.
That means he can bring in players, including younger ones, who can play without the pressure of a one-off knockout game away from home like the game at Coventry.
He could use most of the team that played that night. They should at least be more familiar with each other now. I would go with Fraser Forster again because otherwise what was the point of leaving Djed Spence out of the squad for the experienced goalkeeper?
Dominic Solanke could probably do with more minutes to get sharp with teenager Will Lankshear able to come on for the second half at some point. There could be a first start for Mikey Moore to hand Brennan Johnson a rest ahead of the trip to Old Trafford.
Yves Bissouma could get an hour into his legs after returning on Saturday from injury while a decision has to be made in defence over who plays three games in a week. Cristian Romero is suspended but potentially two of the other three could play 45 minutes each.
Gold’s team: Forster; Gray, Dragusin, Van de Ven, Davies; Sarr, Bissouma, Bergvall; Moore, Solanke, Werner.
Qarabag gave eventual finalists Bayer Leverkusen an almighty fright in last season’s Europa League and they are certainly an opponent Tottenham cannot underestimate on Thursday evening. Following all those changes at Coventry City last week, Ange Postecoglou once again has the opportunity to rotate his team but he may not want to do as many this time around as Spurs need to start strong in Europe.
Guglielmo Vicario should start in goal rather than opting for one of Fraser Forster or Brandon Austin in his place. In defence, Pedro Porro starts after getting a breather at Coventry as Destiny Udogie this time drops out of the team for Ben Davies to come in.
Radu Dragusin then plays in the place of the suspended Cristian Romero, joining Micky van de Ven at centre-back in the process. In midfield, both Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr could do with starts and it looks a good opportunity to give Lucas Bergvall another go from the off once again.
Dominic Solanke will benefit from the chance to play again and also add to his first Spurs goal that he scored in last Saturday’s 3-1 win over Brentford. Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner start either side of him, with Mikey Moore and Son Heung-min the attacking options from the bench to begin with.
Guest’s team: Vicario; Porro, Dragusin, Van de Ven, Davies; Bissouma, Sarr, Bergvall; Johnson, Solanke, Werner.
Lee Wilmot – Head of football
Spurs will be looking to get their Europa League campaign off to a good start as they host Azerbaijan league leaders Qarabag in N17. And to ensure they get off to the best possible start, Ange Postecoglou needs to pick a strong team.
I didn’t understand Fraser Forster being part of the league phase squad, I thought Djed Spence should have got the nod because the Europa League is tough and important and for me Guglielmo Vicario starts every game, or at least until we’ve qualified for the knockouts.
Pedro Porro plays at right-back, with Micky van de Ven and Radu Dragusin as the centre-back pairing. I would have rested one of the first-choice pairing anyway and Cristian Romero’s suspension makes the decision for me. Destiny Udogie takes the left-back berth.