Evening Standard

Kick-off delayed due to “severe travel disruption”

Tottenham vs Qarabag - LIVE!

Tottenham begin their bid for European glory as they host Qarabag tonight, though kick-off has been delayed due to travel issues. Ange Postecoglou’s side are the favourites to win the Europa League this season, but the focus is first to finish in the top-eight of the league phase and secure an automatic spot in the last-16.

Confidence returned to the Spurs camp over the weekend after an impressive victory over Brentford, despite conceding in the opening 25 seconds. Dominic Solanke scored his first goal for the club and leads the line again tonight, while there changes elsewhere, with Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray among those coming into the side.

This is the first of eight matches Spurs will play in the league phase, and they are unsurprisingly big favourites. Qarabag sit top of the Azerbaijan Premier League, but were beaten 5-0 on aggregate by Dinamo Zagreb in Champions League qualifying last month. Follow all the action with Standard Sport’s LIVE blog below, featuring expert analysis from Dan Kilpatrick at the ground!

Tottenham vs Qarabag latest news

The wait goes on...

Reports that Qarabag might not even have made it to the stadium yet, as a result of the traffic issues in north London.

Would suggest that’s a fairly significant factor in the delay...

Dan Kilpatrick at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Still no word on a potential kick-off time.

Dan Kilpatrick has the latest from the ground...

Delay to kick-off

The match will now not get underway at 8pm at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, due to travel issues impacting supporters.

A statement from Spurs said: “Kick off for tonight’s fixture has been delayed due to severe travel disruption. Further information to follow.”

No confirmation yet on how long the delay will be.

Son: Footballers are not robots

Tottenham captain Heung-min Son has followed the club's head coach and chairman in criticising the fixture schedule, and called for action from the game's governing bodies to protect players.

At Tottenham's annual fan forum on Monday night, head coach Ange Postecoglou warned the fixture list was "at breaking point" and said players may take direction action if nothing changes, while chairman Daniel Levy called for "less games" but of "higher quality".

Son, who captains South Korea and frequently travels to Asia during international breaks, is the latest high-profile star to speak out on player welfare.

"Sometimes players are the main guys to have to say something," Son said. "There's definitely a lot of games and as a football fan who loves football you want to see quality games. Not as many as possible.

"You don't want to see players struggling with injuries. No one wants to see it. A lot of games, a lot of travelling.

"We've to look after ourselves, which sometimes it's very hard. Mentally, physically you're not ready then going on to the pitch and then with the risk of injury is massive. We're not robots.”

Click here for Son’s full comments!

Zac Goodwin/PA Wire

Qarabag team news

Starting XI: Kochalski, Silva, Mustafazade, Bayramov, Huseynov, Cafarguliyev, Benzia, Andrade, Romao, Zoubir, Juninho

Subs: Mammadzada, Buntic, Jankovic, Addai, Andrade, Richard, Kashchuk, Qurbanly, Isaev, Huseynov, Akhundzade

Rotation as expected

No real surprises in that Tottenham lineup.

Bergvall, Dragusin and Gray among those to come into the side as expected, with Maddison, Bentancur and Kulusevski all on the bench.

Interesting that Vicario has got the nod in goal. Forster struggled in the Carabao Cup against Coventry, and doesn’t get another chance here.

Reuters

Tottenham team news

Starting XI: Vicario; Gray, Dragusin, Van de Ven, Davies; Bissouma, Sarr, Bergvall; Johnson, Solanke, Son

Subs: Forster, Austin, Porro, Udogie, Bentancur, Maddison, Kulusevski, Moore, Werner, Lankshear

Team news coming up!

Should be getting all the team news from north London in the next few minutes.

All eyes on how many changes Ange Postecoglou opts to make...

Spurs Europa League schedule

Tonight is the first of eight matches Tottenham will play in the league phase of the competition.

Some really intriguing ties in there - trips to Rangers and Galatasaray will be a real test for Spurs.

October 3: Ferencvaros (A)

October 24: AZ Alkmaar (H)

November 7: Galatasaray (A)

November 28: Roma (H)

December 12: Rangers (A)

January 23: Hoffenheim (A)

January 30: IF Elfsborg (H)

Getty Images

Key decisions ahead for Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou repeated a familiar line when asked which competition he is prioritising ahead of Tottenham's Europa League curtain-raiser.

“We want to win everything, mate, so no preference," said the Spurs head coach.

Postecoglou's ambition is laudable, but everyone knows that Spurs do not have the squad depth to win a clean sweep of four trophies this season; at some point down the line, the Australian will likely face tough decisions over where his true priorities lie.

Does Postecoglou really want to win the Europa League even if it means, for example, that Spurs squander the chance at a fourth-place finish and a guaranteed return to the Champions League next season?

With the exception of Andre Villas-Boas, Postecoglou's modern predecessors have tended to treat the Europa League as an afterthought and in 11 seasons in UEFA's secondary club competition this century, Spurs have never progressed beyond the quarter-finals, which they reached in 2012-13 under the Portuguese.

For a club of Tottenham's size and ambitions, this is an underachievement, particularly given they competed in the Champions League final in 2019 in their sixth campaign in the competition.

With supporters desperate for a first trophy since 2008 and Spurs' beginning the revamped Europa League among the favourites, Postecoglou will be expected to finally have a proper crack at winning the competition this term.

Read our full preview here!

Action Images via Reuters

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