Tottenham embark on their third Europa League campaign in a row at home to Tromso and having dispatched of Georgia’s Dinamo Tbilisi 8-0 on aggregate in the final qualifying round their Norwegian opponents look to be in for a tough night in north London.
The hosts are long odds-on shots at 13/100 to win, with the Tippeligaen side a massive 19/1 to take all the points back to Norway and the draw priced up at 25/4.
As Spurs are so short a punt the Premier League side minus two goals at 11/10 could be the way to play here.
Tromso’s domestic form has been woeful this year and they lie one place above the relegation zone in Norway’s top-flight with seven games left in the season.
They qualified for this competition as Norway’s fair play winners and only made the group stages after Besiktas were kicked out of Europe for match-fixing.
Manager Agnar Christensen has yet to see his team register a win away from the Alfheim Stadion so far in the league and they have conceded twice as many goals on the road as they have scored.
This is a massive step up in quality for the Norwegians as there is little evidence to suggest that Andre Villas-Boas will make wholesale changes to the side that beat Norwich 2-0 last time out in the Premier League.
In last year’s Europa League group stage opener at home to Lazio only three players were rested from the previous domestic tie against Reading.
Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen, Mousa Dembele and the recently departed Gareth Bale all featured in at least two of Spurs’ three home group stage games in 2012/13.
The Portuguese won this competition during his treble-winning first and only season at Porto in 2011 and always takes it seriously, to the extent that many Lilywhites fans became concerned that their side’s league form would suffer in the latter stages of the last campaign.
With the White Hart Lane ranks swollen by seven summer signings, all of whom have at least five international caps apiece, another tilt at European football’s consolation prize looks in the offing this season.
Villas-Boas has an array of impressive options at his disposal and could hand a first start to €30m Argentinean winger Erik Lamela, while midfielder Lewis Holtby’s man-of-the-match performance in the home game with Dinamo puts him bang in contention for a place on the teamsheet.