Sports Blog 23/02/2017: UEFA Europa League Last 32 2nd Leg – Tottenham vs Gent, Thursday 23rd February 2017

Can Tottenham gazump Gent in their first Europa League fixture at Wembley, at 8.05pm on BT Sport 2?

Like most of their European (mis)adventures this season, Tottenham’s trip to Belgium didn’t exactly go to plan last week. One imagines Spurs were pretty pleased when they drew Gent – there was nothing about the side’s recent form to suggest they would particularly trouble the North London club. Yet Pochettino and co. flew back with a 1-0 deficit to overcome, a lifeless performance gifting the Belgians the win despite manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck leaving their best striker, Kalifa Coulibaly, on the bench for most of the game.



Now, normally such a slender margin of error wouldn’t be too much of an issue. However, things are complicated by the fact that Tottenham will be playing the 2nd leg at Wembley. While they won their final Champions League fixture there, beating CSKA Moscow 3-1, they lost to both Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen at their temporary European home, with the decision to play there drawing a lot of criticism (and, evidently false, reports that the club would switch back to White Hart Lane for the Europa League).

Tottenham bounced back from their mid-week defeat with an emphatic win, and Harry Kane hat-trick, against Fulham in the FA Cup. That leaves Kane with 19 goals in all competitions, and a Super Mega PGM spread of 68-78, ahead of Vincent Janssen at 48-56 and Dele Alli at 36-42.

It’s interesting to think that, heading into Wembley, Gent will likely be far less nervous than Spurs. They’ve already got 2 advantages – one actual goal and, just as important, Tottenham’s lack of away goal – and don’t have anywhere near the same amount of pressure on their shoulders. And that’s not to be patronising; the weight of expectation may free the Belgians up for another shock victory by the end of the night. The 32 year old Jeremy Perbet may be given another chance to prove his worth after nabbing the winner last week, while the aforementioned Coulibaly, the club’s top scorer, could also make an appearance; they sit at Super Mega PGMs of 9-13 and 9-12 respectively.

Though this was said before the 1st leg, Spurs should have enough quality to be their visitors, with Spreadex offering a Tottenham/Gent Goal Supremacy spread of 1.6-1.8 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.8-3.