Tottenham Hotspur vs AZ Alkmaar

Tottenham Hotspur will look to maintain their dream UEFA Europa League start when they take on out-of-sorts AZ Alkmaar at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Widely considered among the leading favorites to conquer the Europa League this season, Tottenham have lived up to the billing thus far, overcoming Qarabag 3-0 win ten men before clutching a 2-1 away win against Ferencvaros last time out. Spurs are odds-on to make it three victories out of three as they return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where they’ve not lost a European fixture since the start of the 2020/21 campaign (W12, D2). On top of that, Ange Postecoglou’s men pulled off a scintillating comeback on this ground last weekend, beating crosstown rivals West Ham 4-1 to make it four wins out of five on home turf this season (L1), with each triumph notably seeing them score 3+ goals.

As for AZ Alkmaar, their European campaign started strongly with a 3-2 home triumph against Swedish outfit Elfsborg, but the wheels have fallen off since. The visitors take this trip amidst a dreadful four-match losing streak in all competitions, including a 2-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao in the last Europa League round. A lack of firepower up front saw the Eredivisie strugglers score a meager average of 0.5 goals per match during that sequence. Topically, they’ve lost their last two competitive away goals without scoring, casting significant doubt on their bid to end their longest losing run since 2004. As if that’s not concerning enough, they’ve suffered defeat on their last four UEFA travels!