Jose Mourinho has just made a big call about Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League hopes this season as he prepares his Fenerbahce side to face Manchester United.
Mourinho suffered a humiliating exit from the competition back in 2021 with the North London club as they let a first-leg 2-0 lead slip in Croatia and lost 3-2 on aggregate to Dinamo Zagreb.
Now, he is in charge of the Turkish Süper Lig club Fenerbahce who, like Spurs, are competing in the Europa League this season. His team have taken four points from their first two European matches having drawn with FC Twente and beaten Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.
Now speaking ahead of Fenerbahce’s clash with United, Mourinho has spoken about Spurs’ hopes for going all the way in the competition this term.
Jose Mourinho makes Tottenham prediction
Mourinho claims that Tottenham and Manchester United are the two favourites to win the Europa League this season. The Portugese coach believes that the Premier League is a different level to any other league and that makes their two clubs the favourites.
Mourinho told the media: “If I have to say now which are the two biggest candidates to win the Europa League, I think it’s easy, Man United and Tottenham.
“Premier League is a different level of quality, intensity, pace and tactical culture, it’s a different level of everything. So I think tomorrow we are going to play against one of the two strongest teams.”
Ange Postecoglou’s team have made a strong start to the competition having won their first two matches against Qarabag and Ferencvarosi. Next up is a game against Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar.
How could Tottenham line-up vs AZ Alkmaar?
Tottenham could be without Heung-min Son who missed training ahead of the Europa League clash with AZ Alkmaar. Son returned in Spurs’ 4-1 win over West Ham from a hamstring injury and his absence from training will raise fears that he has suffered a setback.
Richarlison looks set to make his first start of the season after finally recovering from a knock which has limited his campaign to just 25 minutes of action so far. Dragusin, Ben Davies, Archie Gray, Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Bergvall are all set to join the Brazilian in starting on Thursday.
Tottenham’s predicted line-up vs AZ Alkmaar: Vicario; Udogie, Davies, Dragusin, Gray; Bentancur, Sarr, Bergvall; Johnson, Werner, Richarlison.
Receive a digest of our best Spurs content each week direct to your mailbox
