On Thursday evening, at 20:00, Tottenham and Ludogorets face in the 4th round of the UEFA Europa League groups. Obviously, Jose Mourinho’s team is a big favorite against the Bulgarians, with Keseru being announced as the starter, and Moti reserving.
The calculations in group J are far from simple. Tottenham is on the 1st place, with 6 points and goal difference (6-2), but rivals Antwerp and LASK Linz also have 6 points! What do these bands have in common?
They all won the match with Ludogorets, who has the role of a “referee” in the fight for qualification. As a result, the English still had to work to breathe a sigh of relief in qualifying, although the group seemed very simple. On Thursday night, the hosts will not be able to play Alderweireld, Doherty and Lamela, injured, while Escavy, Renan and Wanderson are missing the guests.
In the league, Tottenham comes after excellent performances and consecutive victories with Brighton (2-1), WBA (1-0) and especially Manchester City (2-0) – which Jose Mourinho’s team subordinated over the weekend. But Spurs pay tribute to the defeat suffered in Antwerp (0-1), so the Londoners are forced to line up a strong first “11” in Thursday night’s game. However, it seems that Son and Kane will only be reserves in London.
Ludogorets is no longer the force of a few years ago, and this can be seen in Europe, where the white-greens lost the games with LASK Linz (3-4) and Tottenham (1-3) without making any big claims. With the Austrians, Elvis Manu’s hat-trick kept the chances intact for a point until the end, but the difference in value was also in favor of the host team.
Ludogorets comes after a clear victory in the championship, 3-0 away with CSKA Sofia, a match decided by Keseru’s “double”. In this match, the manager from Razgrad used several reserves, including the Romanian striker, who has 5 goals in 7 matches played this season!
But Tottenham is formidable at home, in the European cups, and the numbers say it all: 13 victories in 16 matches played at home, in the Europa League, and in 9 of the successes we witnessed the winning combination “3+ and GG”. It is not excluded to witness a quality show again, especially since the reserve players that Mourinho will try have every reason to try to impress. Claudiu Keseru also scored in the round match, having 11 goals in 7 matches in the UEFA Europa League – a colossal balance.
Tottenham Hotspur: Hart; Aurier, Sanchez, Dier, Davies; Winks, Sissoko; Bale, Lo Celso, Lucas; Vinicius
Coach: Jose Mourinho
Ludogorets Razgrad: Iliev; Cicinho, Verdon, Terziev, Nedyalkov; Anicet, Badji, Santana; Tekpetey, Keseru, Manu
Coach: Stanislav Genchev
Ludogorets has 5 consecutive defeats in the European duels with teams from the Top 5 championships;
Ludogorets have lost 4 of the last 5 games against English teams;
6 of the last 8 matches played at home by Spurs in the Europa League have had at least three goals scored;
At Ludogorets is coach Stanislav Genchev, former midfielder at FC Vaslui;
In 5 of the last 6 matches of the Bulgarians, at least three goals have been scored;
PREDICTION: Over 3,5 goals @ 1,75
