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Tottenham vs Qarabag Team News and Predicted Line-Ups Ahead Of Thursday’s Europa League Showdown
Cai is a news and features writer that specialises in football, but has experience covering a variety of other sports, including darts, basketball, American football, MMA, boxing and more. He holds a degree in Football Journalism (BA Hons) from the University of Derby, and worked with Nottingham Forest FC and Burton Albion FC throughout his studies. Cai also has experience working in social media with the Football Association of Wales, where he worked on a freelance basis, and has also been an accredited writer in the JD Cymru Premier for both Y Clwb Pêl-Droed and welshfootie since the 2019/20 season.
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Ange Postecoglou and his Tottenham Hotspur side welcome Qarabag to north London in their Europa League opener on Thursday, and we’ve got the latest in terms of team news and predicted line-ups ahead of the action.
Tottenham Hotspur return to continental action after a year away from European competition on Thursday evening as they welcome Azerbaijani champions Qarabag to north London in their Europa League league phase opener.
It’ll come as little surprise to anyone to hear that Spurs are heavily favoured among bookmakers to come out on top in this one, with some of the UK’s best football betting sites pricing them at 1/7 to win the tie, while the likelihood of the visitors causing an upset is rated as a 16/1 longshot.
Ange Postecoglou’s side head into this one off the back of two successive wins, having lost the two games prior, first beating Coventry 2-1 in the Carabao Cup, before making light work of Brentford with a 3-1 win in the Premier League last Saturday. Victory over the Bees ensured a return to the top half for Spurs, who now sit in 10th place on seven points.
Qarabag, meanwhile, are in their usual position at the top of the Azerbaijan Premier League and have won each of their last three competitive matches. They have suffered just one defeat in their opening six league matches this term, against Turan Tovuz, which was sandwiched in between two Champions League play-off round defeats against Dinamo Zagreb.
Thursday’s clash will be the first meeting between Tottenham and Qarabag since 2015, when Spurs did the double over their Azerbaijani counterparts in the Europa League group stage with a 3-1 home victory and a 1-0 win on the road.
Tottenham vs Qarabag Team News
Tottenham Team News
Postecoglou is expected to make numerous rotations for Qarabag’s visit, with Spurs heading into a busy fixture period ahead of the October international window.
Captain Heung-min Son is expected to drop to the bench in order to keep fresh for the trip to Old Trafford on the weekend, while attacking duo Richarlison and Wilson Odobert remain ruled out through injury, and Cristian Romero misses out due to a suspension he picked up against AC Milan in the Champions League back in March 2023.
This means that Postecoglou’s front three will likely consist of Brennan Johnson, who has two goals in his last two games, Dominic Solanke and Timo Werner. Fraser Forster, Archie Gray, Radu Dragusin, Ben Davies and Lucas Bergvall should all be in line for some minutes too.
Tottenham Predicted Line-Up
Forster; Gray, Dragusin, Davies, Udogie; Sarr, Bissouma, Bergvall; Johnson, Solanke, Werner
Qarabag Team News
As for the visitors, central defender Kevin Medina is suspended after picking up a red card against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League play-off round, so Azerbaijan international Bahlul Mustafazada should start in his place.
In terms of injuries, Marko Jankovic is the only concern for Qarabag, however the Montenegrin midfielder made his return as a late substitute in the 4-0 Azerbaijan Premier League win over Neftci last Friday.
Qarabag Predicted Line-Up
Kochalski; Silva, Huseynov, Mustafazada, Cafarquliyev; Isayev, Romao; Bayramov, Andrade, Zoubir; Juninho