Tottenham can maintain the feel-good factor around the club following a winning start to the season and Harry Kane’s decision to stay by overcoming Pacos de Ferreira in their Europa Conference League play-off on Thursday.
There are 22 play-off second-leg ties in UEFA’s newest club competition on Thursday with Spurs one of three British teams in action, alongside Aberdeen and St Johnstone.
First Leg defeat
Nuno Espirito Santo’s men trail 1-0 from the first leg against the Portuguese outfit but they will be confident of overturning that deficit at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, even if the new boss again opts to make wholesale changes.
It was a completely different XI that played in the first leg last week to the one that won the opening Premier League clash at Manchester City and there are likely to be plenty of fringe players involved again, although the Spurs boss may be tempted to give Kane his first start of the campaign in the wake of his decision to stay this summer.
It was incredible to see the reception from the Spurs fans on Sunday and to read some of the messages of support I've had in the last few weeks.
I will be staying at Tottenham this summer and will be 100% focused on helping the team achieve success. #COYS pic.twitter.com/uTN78tHlk1
— Harry Kane (@HKane) August 25, 2021
Elsewhere, recent signings Pierluigi Gollini, Bryan Gil and Cristian Romero will all also hope to start, while the likes of Ryan Sessegnon and Giovani Lo Celso are other options.
Spurs can Hit Goal Trail
Whoever Nuno picks, the Premier League side should have too much for Pacos, who have lost back-to-back league games in Portugal, going down 3-0 against Boavista and 3-1 on Monday to Estoril. There’s little value in the odds for Tottenham to win the second leg, available at 4/21, but backing Spurs to hit over 2.5 goals on the night at 23/20 appeals.
Scottish Pair Eye Progress
Scottish duo Aberdeen and St Johnstone are also aiming to make the group stage of the Europa Conference League and the Dons are in an identical position to Spurs, having to turn around a 1-0 first-leg deficit when they host Azerbaijan side Qarabag.
Stephen Glass’ side have had a solid start to the season, picking up two wins and a draw from their three games in the Scottish Premiership so far, and they are a very tempting 23/20 to win the second leg at Pittodrie even though Qarabag have been Europa League group stage regulars in recent years.
Glass was critical of the poor pitch in the first leg but there will be no such fears at home and Aberdeen have the likes of Funso Ojo and summer signing Christian Ramirez among their goal threats as they look to prevail.
St Johnstone are in a slightly better position after a 1-1 draw in their first leg away against LASK Linz but they will be wary of the Austrian side in the return game after they finished fourth in the top flight domestically last term.
LASK Threat
St Johnstone warmed up for the second leg with a disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Dundee United over the weekend and Callum Davidson’s men have yet to win in normal time from seven games in all competitions this term.
LASK, who have made it to the group stage of the Europa League for the past two years, have the better European pedigree and are 20/41 to qualify and good value at 5/2 to win by one goal on the night.
*All odds correct at time of writing.
