Thursday night sees Tottenham travel to the home of the Azerbaijan champions Qarabag, with a slender one point lead at the top of Group J in the Europa League.
With the emphatic 4-1 demolition of West Ham United behind them, Spurs touch down in Baku knowing that a win would seal their place in the knockout stages of the competition.
But it’s not going to be easy; with Qarabag taking four points from their two home games, including a surprise 1-0 victory over Anderlecht, meaning they’re right in the mix to qualify.
At the same time, Spurs could potentially end The Horsemen’s European adventure depending on whether Monaco beat Anderlecht at the same time.
Qarabag
With four victories in their last five games in all competitions, Gurban Gurbanov’s side will be no pushovers on Thursday.
But they will also look to avenge their 3-1 defeat at the hands of Tottenham back in September, where they took a surprising lead through Richard Almeida’s spot kick.
Almeida is Qarabag’s top scorer with 10 goals in 21 games, with four of those coming in European competition making him the home side’s biggest threat.
They are yet to lose at home this season and have only conceded one goal in European competition at home, but with Qarabag averaging 1.4 goals per game in 17 outings at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium, they’ll be hard-pressed to overturn a two-goal deficit should that be the case.
And in 10 European matches this season, they have only scored more than once on one occasion.
But having won the domestic league in the last two seasons, they will certainly create problems for a sprightly Spurs side.
Tottenham
Sunday’s victory over West Ham made it 12 league games unbeaten for Tottenham; equalling the record they set in the 2012-13 season under Andre Villas-Boas.
Tottenham have made themselves a tough team to beat, but in the Europa League they’ve found it difficult to win away from home; without a win in four games, with just one point out of 12.
And with a trip to Baku a little over 4000kmm away, they’re travelling the furthest out of any other team on Matchday 5 and with one eye on Sunday’s visit from Chelsea at White Hart Lane, Mauricio Pochettino will be weary of fielding a full-strength team despite wanting to seal qualification.
With 15 goals in their last five games, Tottenham have the firepower to put Qarabag to the sword, but with five goals conceded in four Europa League games, they also look susceptible at the back, with Kieran Trippier in particular failing to convince in defence.
Andros Townsend could be recalled to the starting eleven, whilst Erik Lamela may start after returning from his one match ban.
