Tottenham Hotspur kick off their Europa League campaign on September 26 against Qarabag and they will be dreaming of going all the way.
Spurs’ recent history in the competition has been pretty poor with their best season in Europe’s second-tier tournament being quarter-final exits since the turn of the century. However, the North London club do have two UEFA Cup titles to their name having won it in 1972 and 1984.
Now, Ange Postecoglou will be bidding to end their 41-year wait to win the Europa League this season as they enter as one of the favourites.
Top youngsters who can help in the early stages
Tottenham’s academy is starting to produce some real gems with Hotspur Way now a hotbed for emerging, young talents.
The jewel in the crown of their academy is without doubt 17-year-old Mikey Moore who looks set for plenty of first-team minutes this campaign. The teenager has been kept around the first team and is one of the best players in his age group in Europe.
Will Lankshear is another huge talent coming through the academy conveyor belt in N17 with the striker netting 25 goals in 26 games last season.
The additions of the likes of Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray and Wilson Odobert means Tottenham now have a collection of some of Europe’s best young talents.
These players will all allow Postecoglou a chance to rotate his team in the earlier stages without the quality dipping too much.
No standout teams with European pedigree
European pedigree counts for a lot in these competitions with some teams just having the know-how to navigate knockout matches.
No team has more Europa League titles than Tottenham, as only Frankfurt and Porto have won the same number as them with two. Meanwhile, only two teams from the last three seasons have reached the semi-finals with Roma and Frankfurt the only sides to have made it that far.
Therefore, the Lilywhites can be confident that when it comes down to European pedigree, there are very few teams who they should be wary of in this department. But as we know, their lack of trophy-winning prowess could be a limiting factor and something they must change.
Tottenham possibly have the best group of players in the competition
According to both the odds and the computer percentages, Postecoglou’s teams are one of the strong favourites to lift the trophy.
Tottenham have two of the best attackers in the competition hoping to fire them to glory in Dominic Solanke and Heung-min Son. For Solanke, he has 53 minutes of European experience across his career, so this will be a new experience for him.
In midfield, Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison will be two of the most feared players in the competition and will need to step up if Spurs are to go far.
The Australian team have had issues in defence having conceded an unbelievable 61 goals last season in just the league. But individually, their back line is fantastic with a World Cup winner in Cristian Romero and young talents in Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro.
If the players buy into Angeball and eventually gel, Tottenham undoubtedly have one of the best teams in the competition and they must make this count.
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