. See the current injury list for all Premier League Teams
. All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats
Spurs' record in Europe:-
U.E.F.A Champions League
P W D L F - A
53 22 12 19 90 - 75
(Finalists 2019)
European Cup
P W D L F - A
8 4 1 3 21 - 13
(Semi-Finalists 1962)
European Cup Winners Cup
P W D L F - A
33 20 5 8 65 - 34
(Winners 1963)
UEFA Cup/Europa League
P W D L F - A
160 92 39 29 327-143
(Winners 1972, 1984
Finalists 1974)
Europa Conference League
P W D L F - A
7 3 1 3 14 - 9
+ Forfeited one game due to Covid - 09/12/21)
Total
P W D L F - A
261 141 58 62 517-274
Europa League Placings
Pos P W D L F-A GD Pts
Spurs 6 7 4 2 1 14-9 5 14
Elfsborg 20 7 3 1 3 9-11 -2 10
Europa League Placings in full
Mickey van de Ven returns tomorrow!
Spurs 3-2 win over Hoffenheim last week confirmed their progress into the knock-out stages of the Europa League, and a win tomorrow night would confirm their status as a top eight side, enabling them to skip the play-off round in February. All 18 games are kicking off at the same time (8pm GMT - TNT/Discovery).
Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that Micky van de Ven will play his part against Elfsborg on Thursday night. I suspect that means he will be on the bench for the start of the game. Micky's one appearance since 30th October was on 8th December when both he and Cristian Romero had to be withdrawn from the game.
There is no sign of "Cuti" returning just yet and the list of absentees is confirmed as follows:-
Guglielmo Vicario, Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie, James Maddison, Wilson Odobert, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Dominic Solanke, who are all injured.
Antonin Kinsky, Sergio Reguilon, Djed Spence and Yang-Min Hyeok are ineligible.
The team therefore virtually picks itself and should read:- Austin; Pedro Porro, Dragusin, Davies, Gray; Bergvall/Sarr, Bissouma, Bentancur; Kulusevski, Richarlison, Son. Mikey Moore and Will Lankshear are probably our strongest options off the bench apart from Van de Ven, Bergvall or Sarr.
Our final opponents in the 8-match Europa League section are 20th placed Swedish club Elfsborg. Elfsborg still need to confirm their place in the knock-out phase of the competition. They are another side that we have not previously met. Elfsborg's domestic season finished in mid-November and "The Yellow Ones" or "Elegants" finished seventh, so they are unlikely to be in Europe next season. They qualified for this season's Europa League by finishing second behind Malmo on goal difference in 2023.
Elfsborg had to win through all four qualifying rounds to reach this League phase, and with 10 points gained they do have a chance of proceeding to the knock-out phase.
Despite the disadvantage of a lack of competitive games, Elfsborg have won their last two Europa League games beating both Qarabag and Nice (34th and 35th in the league respectively) 1-0. Both those games were at home. Their other win (also at home) was 1-0 over Roma in early October. The Swedes managed a draw at home to Braga, but lost each of their away games to AZ Alkmaar, Galatasaray and Athletic Bilbao respectively. They don't seem to have travelled well.
Elfsborg have spent most of their history in Sweden's top tier winning their league 6 times (last in 2012) and three cups (last in 2014). They are coached by 32-year-old Oscar Hiljemark, who began his playing career with the club. Hiljemark was capped by Sweden 28 times, and his last international game was in 2020.
Elfsborg's top league scorer last season was Ghanaian Michael Baidoo, who recently signed for Plymouth. Ahmed Qasem, who is a Swedish under-21 international scored in three consecutive games back in August, but his next goal was the winner against Qarabag.
It's time to put our Premier League woes to one side and for all the crowd to get behind the team and not chant against the chairman. It is a big night and I'll plump for a home win, a top eight, and two days off in February!
All the officials except the assistant VAR are from Austria. Spurs have never previously encountered referee Sebastian Gishamer. The Austrian Bundesliga has a two month break until early February and Mr. Gishamer's last match was a European Conference League game on December 19th.