Swiss champions FC Basel will travel to north London to face Tottenham in the first leg of a UEFA Europa League quarter final tie on Thursday evening.

Gareth Bale
Reuters

Where to Watch Live

Kick-off is set for 8.05pm BST. Live coverage of the game will be available on ITV 1.

Overview

Spurs come into this game on the back of a morale-boosting 2-1 win over Swansea City on Saturday; the win stopped a run of three consecutive defeats that threatened to derail a largely impressive season for the club.

The win also helped Andre Villas-Boas retain third place in the Premier League, with a two point lead over former employers Chelsea. The west London outfit do have a game in hand though. And with Arsenal and defending champions Manchester City to consider as well, the four-way race for the three remaining Champions League places for next season is separated by only nine points.

In Europe, Spurs battled their way past Italian club Inter Milan in the previous round; AVB's men were forced to rely on away goals to put them through, despite a commanding 3-0 lead from the first leg in England. The Italians ran out dominant 4-1 winners at the Giuseppe Meazza and had it not been for Emmanuel Adebayor's extra-time strike, Spurs would have been beaten 4-3 on aggregate.

Tottenham have lost three of the last five games in all competitions but won three of the last five in the league; the latter sequence includes a win over local rivals Arsenal.

Thursday's visitors qualified for this stage of the tournament after eliminating Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg 2-1 on aggregate. Basel are leaders of the Swiss Super League, with a three point gap to Grasshoppers and, perhaps worryingly for Spurs, are in excellent form.

Murat Yakin's side have lost only once since the late November defeat to FC Thun... and that was the game to Zenit. Even more impressively, they've conceded only once in the last five games. They come into this game after demolishing Lucerne, away from home, in a league game, 4-0.

Basel Players
Reuters

Team Guide

Tottenham Hotspur

  • Last Five (all competitions, most recent first): W L L L W
  • Last Result: Swansea City 1 - 2 Tottenham Hotspur

FC Basel

  • Last Five (all competitions, most recent first): W W L W W
  • Last Result: Lucerne 0 - 4 FC Basel

Team News

Scott Parker
Reuters

England striker Jermain Defoe has beenruled out with an injury. This leaves AVB with only Adebayor up front; Defoe is not expected back until the second leg against Basel, at the very least. The good news is French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and American midfielder Clint Dempsey have both returned to training. Sandro and Younes Kaboul remain long-term absentees.

Probable Line-Up: Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Gallas, Vertonghen; Livermore, Parker; Lennon, Dembele, Bale; Adebayor

Marco Streller, Fabien Frei and former Liverpool defender Philipp Degen are all available for this tie, meaning Yakin has a full-strength squad available to him.

Probable Line-Up: Sommer; Park, Degen, Dragovic, Schar; Die, Stocker, Frei, Diaz; Streller, Gharbiyya

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