Spurs vs. AZ Alkmaar Europa League Match Preview
Ange Postecoglou and his Spurs side seek a third win in succession in this crucial Europa League contest against their Dutch opponents on Thursday evening at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Match Preview:
Spurs are heading into their third round of fixtures in the League Phase of the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League. The match will be taking place at the 62,850 capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday 24th October 2024. The opponents will be Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar, who are also no strangers to European Football.
The game will kick off in North London at 20:00, with Tottenham set to welcome AZ to their superb £1 billion home.
As things stand in the League Phase of this season’s UEFA Europa League, the Lilywhites are currently joint top of the standings after earning the maximum of 6 points from their two games in Europe this term to date. They are only sat in third place on goal difference, with the only clubs sitting above them being Olympique Lyonnais (+5 GD – France) and Lazio (+6 GD – Italy).
Meanwhile, Spurs’ latest opponents in this season’s competition, AZ Alkmaar, currently find themselves down in 18th place with 3 points from their opening couple of matches. The Dutch outfit are currently three points behind their hosts as things stand.
They opened their latest Europa League campaign with a 3 – 2 victory against 10 man Elfsborg (Sweden) at home, scoring through Ruben van Bommel (44’, 50’) and former Tottenham forward Troy Parrott (74’).
This was followed by a 2 – 0 defeat last time out at the hands of Spanish Heavyweights Athletic Club Bilbao at the San Mames Stadium. The hosts were able to find the back of the AZ net through forward Inaki Williams (72’) and central midfielder Oihan Sancet in the latter stages of the second half (85’).
AZ Alkmaar secured qualification for this season’s UEFA Europa League following a 4th place finish in the Eredivisie last season, having earned a total of 65 points from 34 matches. They won 19 games, whilst drawing 8 and losing 7 of them. They ended the last campaign in the league just 4 points adrift of FC Twente in third place.
The furthest that AZ have made it into the Europa League is the Final itself, which they have reached on one occasion, doing so all the way back in the 1980/81 season. In the 1981 Final, they were defeated 5 – 4 on aggregate by Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town over two legs. The Tractor Boys won the first leg at Portman Road 3 – 0 before they were beaten 4 – 2 on the night in the second leg in the Netherlands. It was still enough for Ipswich to secure the trophy.
Spurs’ Previous Europa League Game:
The most recent game for Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs side in the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League’s League Phase was away from home against Hungarian outfit Ferencvaros, who they were able to beat 2 – 1 away from in Budapest, the Capital City of Hungary.
Pape Matar Sarr (23’) and in-form forward Brennan Johnson (86’) were both on target for the vising Spurs, whilst the hosts got their sole goal of the game late on in the contest thanks to their 29-year-old forward Barnabas Varga (90’).
You can view the highlights from this game below (via Tottenham Hotspur on YouTube):
Spurs Team News:
In terms of team news, forwards Richarlison and Wilson Odobert are both now back fit and are available for this match against AZ Alkmaar of the Eredivisie. Unfortunately, Ange Postecoglou has revealed that Son Heung-Min will not be available for selection for the match against AZ on Thursday night due to still not being fully fit following his return from injury against West Ham United in the Premier League at the weekend.
Head to Head:
This crucial League Phase match in the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League will be the first time that Tottenham Hotspur and AZ Alkmaar have ever played against each other competitively in any competition up until they face each other on Thursday night.
Victory for Tottenham in this game against AZ Alkmaar would potentially see them rise to the top of the League Phase table, but this will also depend on the results of other teams and the margins of victory for any teams around them who win.
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