( CNN ) -- English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur crushed Scottish outfit Heart of Midlothian 5-0 in the qualifying round of UEFA 's Europa League . Tottenham , who had their opening Premier League clash against Everton postponed due the recent London riots , nevertheless looked much the sharper as they raced into a 3-0 lead by half time . It took just five minutes for Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart to take advantage of some calamitous defending to poke Tottenham 1-0 in front before Jermain Defoe and 21-year-old Jake Livermore , scoring his first goal for his club , put the tie beyond the Edinburgh club . Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon completed the rout . It was a great night for English clubs as Fulham beat Ukraine 's Dnipro 3-0 thanks to a brace from U.S. international Clint Dempsey , Stoke City -- playing their first European tie in nearly 40 years -- snatched a 1-0 victory against FC Thun in Switzerland whilst second division Birmingham City held Nacional to a 0-0 draw in Portugal . Elsewhere Europe 's leading clubs fared badly . Helsinki pulled off arguably the biggest shock of the night by beating German side Shalke 2-0 in Finland . Shalke was missing talismanic Spanish striker Raul after he was left out of their Europa League squad . AS Roma also face a tough second leg after Slovan Bratislava beat them 1-0 in Slovakia . The second leg ties all take place August 25th .
Tottenham Hotspur smash Hearts 5-0 in the Europa League . Good night for English clubs as Fulham and Stoke City win . Shalke 04 and AS Roma both lose . Second leg of qualifying round takes place August 25th .