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FC Sheriff v Tottenham Hotspur
Date: Thursday October 24th
KO: 18:00
Venue: Sheriff Stadium
Tottenham travel to Moldova to face FC Sheriff hoping to keep up their 100% record in the Europa League this season and have a chance to qualify from the group with three games remaining, while Sheriff will be trying to find their first win after two draws in their opening matches of Group K. Andre Villas-Boas’ side are yet to concede a goal in the competition after simple wins over Tromsø and Anzhi and can qualify for the knock out stages of the competition if they win and the other two teams in the group draw.
Team News:
Tottenham Hotspur
Andre Villas-Boas will field a far different side than the one that beat Aston Villa on Sunday with the likes ofAaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe, Christian Eriksen, Mousa Dembele, Erik Lamela and Kyle Naughton probably featuring.
The Spurs manager is still without Younes Kaboul, Etienne Capoue and Danny Rose as they all recover from injuries.
FC Sheriff
FC Veris visit Sheriff’s self-named stadium three days after they play Spurs so it will remain to be seen whether or not manager Veaceslav Rusnac will choose a weakened team to rest his best players for the Moldovan league game at the weekend.
Recent Form:
Spurs head into this fixture having a 100% record in the Europa League after a 3-0 victory over Tromsø and a 2-0 away win against Anzhi. They also won their last Premier League game with considerable ease; a 2-0 win at Villa Park against a poor Aston Villa side. FC Sheriff shouldn’t cause them too many problems.
Meanwhile, Sheriff have won nine out of their opening 12 matches in the Moldovan league which has opened up a four-point gap at the top of the table.
Two draws in their opening two games in Group K is a steady start but they’ll need a win at some point if they want to advance to the knock out phase of the competition.
Players to Watch:
Tottenham - Jermain Defoe
The Englishman hasn’t had many chances to play this season following the big-money arrival of Roberto Soldado in the summer but Defoe has taken his chance in Europe when it’s come his way. He has played in both group stage games, scoring three times. He’ll be chomping at the bit to score as he aims to equal Martin Chivers’ record of scoring the most goals in Europe by a Spurs player (22).
Defoe is Spurs’ highest point scorer in the Europa League in Squawka’s Performance Score with 116 points; Dembele second with 81.
FC Sheriff - Luvannor
The young Brazilian midfielder, often deployed at left-back, is the Moldovan’s dangerman and will be the player to cause Spurs the most problems. Quite incredibly, he has scored 11 goals in 9 appearances in the Moldovan league.
Prediction
Tottenham to win, and convincingly, too. I fully expect Defoe to score once, if not more, and break Martin Chivers’ goalscoring record. I can’t see Sheriff causing Spurs too many problems; Villas-Boas’ side are too strong.
FC Sheriff 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur
