Tottenham Hotspur – Maccabi Haifa

Tottenham Hotspur – Maccabi Haifa

Tottenham Hotspur hosts Maccabi Haifa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a game from the playoffs of Europa League. For both teams a win here would mean qualification for the competition’s group stage. Let’s preview it.

Tottenham started the 2020/21 season with a defeat against Everton in the Premier League, but since then they are unbeaten in four consecutive games in all competitions. In two of them they achieved wins in Europa League.

In the third qualifying round of the competition Tottenham traveled to North Macedonia to face Shkendija. Erik Lamela opened the score for Spurs, but Valjmir Nafiu equalised for the Macedonians. Tottenham needed two goals from Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane in order to eliminate their opponent.

On Tuesday, just two days before, Spurs will face Chelsea in a match from the Carabao Cup. It’d be interesting to see how the manager Jose Mourinho will deal with playing two matches in the matter of two days. Most certainly he will be making some rotations of the line-up.

Maccabi Haifa had a very difficult task in the third round, but they still found a way to progress in the competition. The Israeli team traveled to Russia to face Rostov and achieved a 2-1 win away from home. Rostov opened the score after just 9 minutes of playing, but Maccabi turned the game around with goals from Rukavytsya and Abu Fani. This is how they reached the playoffs of the competition.

In the Israeli Ligat Ha’al Maccabi Haifa have played two games so far and they are leading the standings with 6 points.

We expect to see Tottenham Hotspur serious about reaching the group stage of Europa League. This competition is not a priority for the English club, but it’d be good to qualify for the next stage. They must be careful with Maccabi Haifa, though – the Israeli team proved its class during their visit to Russia.

RB Leipzig faces Tottenham Hotspur

RB Leipzig faces Tottenham Hotspur

RB Leipzig faces Tottenham Hotspur at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig in a second leg from the Champions League 1/8-finals. The German team is in a better position after the result in the first game, but Spurs are not a team to be written off. We expect some dramatic moments on Tuesday. Let’s take a look.

Being hurt by too many injury problems, Tottenham Hotspur didn’t play their best Champions League game against RB Leipzig two weeks ago. The German side won the game with 1-0 after a penalty kick, scored by their star striker Timo Werner. After the game Spurs’ manager Jose Mourinho likened his team to “a gun with no bullets”.

Tottenham are currently without their two best strikers Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min, which is a huge problem for the Portuguese manager. In the first leg against Leipzig he put Dele Alli and Lucas Moura upfront, but both of them are not really pure strikers. Mourinho was right – he really didn’t have much of a choice in attack.

RB Leipzig on the other hand did what they had to do – they defended well and scored a crucial away goal which guaranteed them the win. But on Tuesday they must be cautious – Tottenham are hurt, but they are still in the competition. Jose Mourinho is a tactician with a vast experience, so we won’t be surprised if he creates some unique plan to turn the tie in his team’s favour.

Except Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min who we already mentioned, Moussa Sissoko and Juan Foyth remain sidelined for Tottenham. In the same time RB Leipzig’s manager Julian Nagelsmann can’t use Kevin Kampl, Tyler Adams, Ibrahima Konate and Willi Orban who are all injured at the moment.

Can Tottenham Hotspur survive in the Champions League against RB Leipzig? That’s the pretty good question we must ask now. Spurs lost the first game at home, but they have 90 minutes to turn things in their favour.

Czech Republic welcomes England

Czech Republic welcomes England

Czech Republic welcomes England at the Sinobo Stadium in Prague in a match from Group A of the European qualifications. We will offer you a quick look at this fixture, because it’s the two best teams in the group facing each other.

England are perfect in the group so far – four wins achieved from four matches played. Gareth Southgate’s team have scored 19 goals, conceding just 4. It’d be really surprising if England don’t win this group, although if the Czech team beats them, they will get even in terms of points.

In their previous game in the group England hosted Kosovo at the Wembley and it was a pure football spectacle in the English capital. The fans saw 8 goals, which led to a 5-3 win for the Three Lions. Maybe most of them expected an easy game for the English team, but Kosovo proved to be a capable side as well.

Borussia Dortmund’s young star Jadon Sancho scored a brace for the hosts, while Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane also put the ball in the net. Kosovo’s Mergim Vojvoda scored himself an own goal. Of course, Gareth Southgate is probably worried that his boys conceded three goals in London, but maybe they underrestimated their opponents a litle bit.

Czech Republic are second in this group with 9 points won so far. They are just three points behind the leader England, but they also have played a game more. So far the Czech side lost twice in this group – against England and against Kosovo.

In March the Czech team visited England at the Wembley and got crushed with a heavy 0-5 defeat. Now Jaroslav Silhavy’s team will try to avenge this defeat, but it’d be a hard task.

Although England are a clear favourite agianst Czech Republic, we believe that the hosts could offer a good fight to the Three Lions. Maybe we will see a surprise here?

Southampton – Tottenham Hotspur

Southampton welcomes Tottenham Hotspur in a match from the 30th round of the Premier League.

It’s not an easy situation for Southampton at the moment. The Saints are currently 17th in the league standings with 27 points won, being just 2 points above the 18th Cardiff City and the relegation zone. The team surely needs to be as good as possible until the end of the season in order to guarantee itself survival.

In their last five games in the league Southampton won only once, made one draw and suffered three losses. One of these losses came in the last round against Manchester United. The Saints were close to winning a point, but they suffered a dramatic 2-3 loss at the Old Trafford. Romelu Lukaku scored a late winner for United in the 88th minute. Before this Yann Valery and James Ward-Prowse scored in David de Gea’s net.

Meanwhile Tottenham are 3rd in the Premier League standings with 61 points won so far. Spurs have a record of 20 wins, 1 draw and 8 losses in their games so far. Right now Tottenham have 3 points advantage in front of the 4th Manchester United.

In the previous round Tottenham made their first draw for the season. It happened in the big derby of North London against Arsenal. The game at the Wembley ended with a 1-1 draw. Aaron Ramsey opened the score for the Gunners, but Harry Kane equalised for Spurs from a penalty kick.

During the week Tottenham had a game in the Champions League as well. Spurs managed to beat Borussia Dortmund for a second time, qualifying for the 1/4-finals of the competition.

That’s what we had to say about the Premier League game between Southampton and Tottenham at the St. Mary’s. Good luck!