2024-25 UEFA Europa League: League Phase – Tottenham vs IF Elfsborg

Tottenham Hotspur host IF Elfsborg in a must-win final league phase match in 2024-25 UEFA Europa League. 

Victory will see Tottenham bypass the knockout play-offs with a top-eight finish, whilst IF Elfsborg will secure a knockout play-off spot if they avoid defeat.

 

Team News

James Maddison is ruled out for Tottenham with a calf injury which forced him to sit out their 2-1 Premier League loss at home to Leicester.

Djed Spence and Pape Matar Sarr (both knock) are unlikely to feature but Richarlison (groin) is set to be fit for selection.

Goalkeeper, Antonin Kinsky is ineligible which will mean that Brandon Austin will be in goal for this game.

Guglielmo Vicario (ankle), Mickey van de Ven (leg), Cristian Romero (quad), Brennan Johnson (calf), Dominic Solanke (knee), Destiny Udogie, Wilson Odobert and Timo Werner (all hamstring) are sidelined.

IF Elfsborg have a full squad available for selection.

 

When is Kick-Off?

Tottenham host IF Elfsborg at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday 29 January at 8pm GMT, live on TNT Sports 2 in the UK.

 

Stat Attack

• This is Tottenham’s first-ever meeting against IF Elfsborg in all competitions.
• IF Elfsborg are making their first trip to Tottenham in any competition.
• Tottenham lost their only previous home game against Swedish opposition in all UEFA competitions, which came in a 2-1 loss to Öster in 1995 Intertoto Cup albeit at Brighton due to their home ground being unavailable.
• This is IF Elfsborg’s first-ever tie against English opposition in any UEFA competition.

 

Prediction

With home fans now beginning to show their vocal annoyance at Spurs’ inconsistency following a lacklustre loss to Leicester, they really need to cut out the defensive sloppiness and show better composure in their end product if are to avoid embarrassment here.

IF Elfsborg though won’t make this easy if they can sort out their defensive issues which saw them lose their three away games in this phase, as they clearly are a solid attacking team with goals in six of their seven league phase matches but just need to be more solid.

Even if this game is scrappy and a test of both defences, I do think that Tottenham really should have enough to scrape through otherwise they’re in for a hectic February which is not what they need given their domestic league position.

Prediction: Tottenham 2-1 IF Elfsborg

Result: Tottenham 3-0 IF Elfsborg