Hayters

Tottenham Hotspur are out in the Netherlands for their match against AZ Alkmaar at the AFAS Stadium in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 tonight.

The two sides have met just once before and it was earlier this season. Spurs defeated AZ 1-0 back in October.

Tottenham’s season has been ravaged by injuries and they sit at 13th in the Premier League table. Despite this, their European form has not been as bad as their league form. They finished in fourth place of the initial phase of the Europa League, avoiding an additional qualifying round.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the clash…

Kick-off time

How to watch in the UK

TNT Sports 3 or streaming on Discovery+

Injuries and doubts

AZ Alkmaar: Jayden Addai (out), Sven Mijnans (doubt), Ruben van Bommel (doubt), Mexx Meerdink (doubt)

Sven Mijnans has been important for Alkmaar this season but he has not played since coming off injured against Galatasaray in their last Europa League outing.

Tottenham Hotspur: Dejan Kulusevski (out), Radu Dragusin (out), Richarlison (out), Timo Werner (out), Micky van de Ven (doubt), Cristian Romero (doubt), Dominic Solanke (doubt)

Tottenham’s injury list looks long but it may be the shortest that it has been in a while. Van de Van, Romero and Solanke have all returned to training for Spurs and would be a significant boost in the spine of their team. They are not without casualties though and losing Kulusevski to injury is a big blow.

Predicted line-ups

AZ Alkmaar (4-2-3-1): Owusu-Oduro; Maikuma, Goes, Penetra, Wolfe; Clasie, Koopmeiners; Poku, Buurmester, Lahdo; Parrott

Tottenham Hotspur (4-3-3): Vicario; Porro, Gray, Danso, Spence; Sarr, Bentancur, Bissouma; Johnson, Tel, Son

Recent form

AZ Alkmaar only avoided elimination in the league phase of the Europa League by a point. However, after scraping into the knockout phase, they produced an impressive result. The Dutch side defeated Galatasaray 6-3 on aggregate. The Turkish giants were one of the favourites to win the entire competition and are the only side to beat Spurs in Europe this season. Alkmaar won the first leg 4-1 at home and this should serve as a warning to their English visitors.

Tottenham’s squad has been severely depleted by injuries for most of this campaign. Results have been poor but it now seems they are over the worst of it. Spurs recently recorded back to back league wins for the first time since September. They lost to Man City last time out but have had time to recover since and could be boosted by the return of key players.

What’s been said?

AZ Alkmaar striker and former Tottenham player Troy Parrott on Spurs’ mixed domestic results this season: “I’m sure it’s disappointing for everyone there. When I was there, the focus was always on making the top four and being towards the top of the table. They’re not doing as well as they want to. It seems like a difficult time for them, but I’m just trying to focus on my team and what we have to do tomorrow to try to get a result.”

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou on a European opportunity: “We’ve got ourselves in a good position, making it to the round of 16. We’ve got two tough games against AZ Alkmaar and that’s the first thing to overcome. This club hasn’t done so well in this competition in recent years, but it’s a major European competition, we’re in the last 16 and there’s an opportunity for us, so we’ll see how far we can go.”

Chelsea’s Cole Palmer was among the winners at the London Football Awards as he was named Premier League Player of the Year.

Palmer saw off competition from Gabriel of Arsenal, Fulham’s Antonee Robinson and Brentford duo Mikkel Damsgaard and Bryan Mbeumo to win the award.

The 22-year-old enjoyed a phenomenal year with the Blues, and also won the Goal of the Season award for his free-kick against Brighton in September – in which he scored all four of Chelsea’s goals in the victory.

Fellow Chelsea star Guro Reiten took home the Women’s Super League Player of the Year while her boss Sonia Bompastor won Manager of the Year with both having helped Chelsea to a seven-point lead at the top of the WSL this season.

Reiten won the award ahead of her Chelsea Women team-mate Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Tottenham Hotspur’s Bethany England and Arsenal pair Alessia Russo and Frida Maanum.

Bompastor, meanwhile, was picked over Brentford manager Thomas Frank, Richie Wellens of Leyton Orient, Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and Bromley’s Andy Woodman.

In the young player of the year categories, Chelsea Women were again recognised as Agnes Beever-Jones won the Women’s Young Player of the Year award for the second year running.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Archie Gray was named Men’s Young Player of the Year, winning the honour over Romain Esse of Crystal Palace, Arsenal duo Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly and Watford’s Rocco Vata to top the up-and-coming male category.

Arsenal’s David Raya received the Goalkeeper of the Year award, beating Leyton Orient’s Josh Keeley, Brentford’s Mark Flekken, Dean Henderson of Crystal Palace and Hannah Hampton of Chelsea Women.

And Matty Stevens was crowned English Football League Player of the Year for his performances with AFC Wimbledon, with other nominees including Leyton Orient’s Jamie Donley, Bromley’s Michael Cheek, Giorgi Chakvetadze of Watford and Japhet Tanganga of Millwall.

Ange Postecoglou has called upon Tottenham to become more streetwise after being dragged into a dogfight against struggling Crystal Palace – which they eventually succumbed to.

Jean-Philippe Mateta’s strike on the half-hour mark handed Palace a first win of the season, while Spurs’ inconsistency continues to plague them.

Postecoglou bemoaned his Spurs players for channelling their frustration in the wrong manner which contributed to their downfall.

“What I want to try to do is get people to adjust to playing our game,” he spoke post match.

“Some of it is out of control because they’re obviously going to be pretty aggressive in their approach, which is not a surprise.

“And how the referee deals with that, not so much in terms of the challenges but in terms of stoppages and taking their time, all of that is out of our control.

“But I just felt when we had control of things, we could have dealt with it better. We ended up doing silly things, giving away silly fouls and losing our composure, which just adds to that sort of game when you can’t get any traction.

“So I think we directed our frustration in the wrong way rather than dealing with like we should have.”

The defeat leaves Tottenham in eighth, with four wins and four defeats from their opening nine games.

Postecoglou wants his players to be more ‘clear-minded’ in their approach to physical battles, rather than allowing opponents to dictate the course of games.

“It was a game we needed to stay composed and not sort of fall into the trap of trying to play the game ultimately Palace wanted to play,” he added. “It turned into a game that was battle after battle, duels, stop starts, waiting around.

“We need to be a lot more clear-headed about how we deal with that rather than fall into the trap of doing what we did today.”

Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven is enjoying life playing under Ange Postecoglou, saying the manager’s trust has given him a wealth of new confidence.

Speaking ahead of a Europa League tie against AZ Alkmaar, the Dutchman said that the high line defense for which Tottenham are so often criticised suits his play style as the fastest player in the league.

Speaking on Ange’s system, he said “I really enjoy it, because I have the speed to recover a lot of big spaces, but I also really enjoy the offensive football we play. We are a high pressing team. I really enjoy playing in this high line and playing this offensive football.”

He continued, saying that Postecoglou puts great faith in his players’ instincts and abilities.

“I feel free to run to be honest, to do what I want, because the gaffer always tells us to do whatever pops up in your mind. You could shoot from midline every time, but when you have the trust and the right situation you can do it.”

That confidence was made manifest as he assisted goals against Everton and Manchester United.

He said: “I saw the gap against Everton because everything was open, they were attacking and we were defending, and against Man United the same, I saw the gap and thought ‘if I start sprinting now it is gonna be difficult for the defenders to stop me.'”

He is not the only one feeling the love from Postecoglou. As the mood in the squad improves, so too have team performances, and trophies feel closer than ever.

“This season we have more control of games. Last season you saw in a lot of games we lost control a bit. When we lost the ball last season we were quite open, there was a lot of counter attacks.

“We control games now more and there are better positions for the players, we help each other more than maybe we did last year, so I think these are a lot of points we have improved on but there are also a lot of points we can still improve on which we work on every day.”

With Tottenham’s trophyless streak now extending to 16 years, most recently lifting the Carling Cup in 2008, Van de Ven hinted that confidence in the squad is constantly growing.

“We want to win a trophy. I think that is something we all want and are working for every day, over and over again, and we are in a lot of tournaments this year so we are going to do everything to win a trophy.”

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Radu Dragusin’s early red card did not halt Tottenham’s recent run to form as they defeated Qarabag 3-0 on their Europa League return.

Goals in both halves from Brennan Johnson, Pape Matar Sarr and Dominic Solanke saw Ange Postecoglou’s men secure a hard earned victory after being reduced to ten men five minutes into the match.

Qarabag missed a penalty early into the second half after missing a couple of great opportunities in the first as they return to Azerbaijan empty handed.

Here are five things we learnt from the match…

Dragusin howler will not help chances to start

Radu Dragusin’s Tottenham career just has not got going. Not overly convincing in the games he has played, and when trying to get ahead of Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero in the pecking order, having constant off days is the last thing he will want. Tonight was a chance for the Romanian to impress and assure Ange Postecoglou that he can be trusted in the big games. Five minutes in and his match was over, miss-controlling the ball before bringing down the Qarabag forward and getting his marching orders.

Johnson’s hot streak continues

Brennan Johnson continued his new found form as he made it three goals in three games for Spurs. The winger, who has been subject to abuse which led to him deleting his social media, calmly slotted past the Qarabag goalkeeper 10 minutes in after brilliant work from Dominic Solanke in the buildup. It was exactly what Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham needed after Radu Dragusin’s sending off five minutes earlier.

Sloppy Spurs saved by poor Qarabag finishing

Tottenham were for larger periods of the match the far more dominant side, but Qarabag showed the north Londoners the quality they do possess on their day. The Azerbaijani’s were much more confident on the ball than their hosts, and were it not for poor finishing could have walked away from the Tottenham Hotspur stadium with a point or maybe more. Instead, they let Spurs off the hook and left with a loss.

Mixed fortunes for Spurs’ 18-year-old stars

Tonight’s match was another opportunity for Ange Postecoglou to unshackle some of the young talent he has at his disposal, but Dragusin’s early sending of meant this would not be the case for Swedish star Lucas Bergvall, who was the unlucky recipient, being subbed off in the aftermath. His frustration was clear to see on the TV screens, but the same can’t be said for Archie Gray, who put in another assured performance at right back. The former Leeds youngster formed a good relationship with Johnson on the right hand side in a fullback role that is not his natural position.

Vicario shines when Spurs need him most

The scoreline between Tottenham and Qarabag does not tell the whole story, with the visitors causing their hosts a whole load of problems throughout the match. But Guglielmo Vicario was on top form for Postecoglou’s men, pulling off vital saves and timing his decisive actions perfectly when Spurs needed composure during the tough periods in the match. Strong in the air, sharp in decision making and brilliant in his shot stopping, it was a great display from the Italian.

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Micky Van de Van is loving life under Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham.

The big Dutch defender, man of the match in Tottenham’s 4-0 win over Everton on Saturday, embodies what Postecoglou is trying to do at Spurs – build a team of versatile players who are prepared to play off the cuff and try out new stuff.

Van de Ven’s 80 yard run from box to box to set up Heung Min Son for Tottenham’s fourth goal against Everton showed just what he can do. His first season in the Premier League proved he was the fastest player in England, a commanding defender, clever reader of the game and smart finisher, with a couple of spectacular goals under his belt.

He also has a selfless team ethic that kicked in when he decided to pass to Son, the club’s leading scorer and a deadly finisher. Asked what was going on in his mind when he set off from the edge of his own penalty area, the 23-year-old said: “I was thinking I’ll keep running, hopefully nobody can stop me, and nothing happende. -one did. I knew Sonny was on my left so I kept driving and driving until I got to the centre back and then at the right moment I played it for Sonny to finish.”

Was he tempted to shoot? “No. Sonny was there and I knew he would finish it off.”

It was Van de Ven’s name the crowd sang in celebration, though. “They loved that moment, yes. When I was dribbling with the ball you could sense everyone in the stadium was getting really hyped and I was like ‘nah, now I’m going through’ and then it all went off.”

Postecoglou is far from rigid in his tactics and actively encourages this sort of off-the-cuff stuff from his players. “Ange gives us the possibility to do this, to dribble. He never likes the centre-backs to stay behind (the lines). He trusts us, like everybody else in the team, to do what we want to do. It is really important for us that we feel that trust and have the confidence to do it.”

Critics predicted Postecoglou’s patient, possession-based game – Angeball, as it is known – would be found out in his second season, and last Monday’s frustrating 1-1 draw at Leicester suggested an inability to break down a stubborn defence despite dominating and creating plenty of chances.

But the smart Aussie is always looking for new avenues in attack and is prepared to mix it up. They still whip in numerous crosses from both wings, but now look to play more though the middle, try the odd long-ball over the top, and even in Van de Ven’s case, transition quickly from defence into attack.

All four goals had different origins. Yves Bissouma, back from a club-imposed suspension for off-field misdemeanours, scored the first goal after excellent teamwork, Son’s first came from relentless pressing to pounce on a Pickford error, and Cristian Romero headed home a James Maddison corner to make it 3-0.

Postecoglou wants his team to be more flexible and multi-dimensional. “It’s what we want to evolve into. We had Kulusevski playing in midfield today, Sonny scored a goal through the middle and another when he went out wide.

“We looked a threat from varied areas and even set pieces. If we’re going to turn compelling performances into consistent results, you need to have more than one avenue of attack. I thought we showed that today.”

Van de Ven agrees. “Yes, like Ange said, we can play down the sides, through the middle and two or three balls from Cuti (Romero) to Maddison were really dangerous.

“We need to reach another level this season – last year we were fifth, so it was a good season, but we want more. We want to win a trophy, that’s clear.”