By Ian King
Form
A 1-1 draw for Tottenham Hotspur at West Ham on Sunday looked like exactly what it was; a local derby between the two worst sides in the Premier League who aren’t the three already cast adrift. It says something for Spurs’ performances that this was an improvement on their previous three League matches.
But Europe has been a different matter. Despite conceding that late goal, Spurs were dominant in the first leg of this tie and 3-1 is a decent lead to take to Norway, especially now away goals have been abolished. Bodø/Glimt haven’t featured since then, but are unbeaten in the four games they have played in their domestic season.
Unchartered territory for Glimt
Bodø/Glimt still have a chance of becoming the first Norwegian club to reach a European final but their record against English clubs remains bad. They’d lost all three of their previous meetings with Premier League sides, and now they’ve lost to Spurs, too. Should Spurs get to the final of the Europa League this season it would be the fourth time they’ve done so, although these all happened so long ago that it was called the UEFA Cup at the time. They beat Wolves in 1972 and Anderlecht in 1984, and lost to Feyenoord in 1974; all over two legs.
Key Players
Brennan Johnson hasn’t scored in his last four Premier League games, but he did in the first minute of the first leg of this tie and Spurs could do with him being on his game in front of goal. Otherwise, Cristian Romero needs to have one of those days when he, well, doesn’t do a Cristian Romero thing.
Bodø/Glimt’s goal in the first leg was scored by midfielder Ulrik Saltnes, who is the closest thing that you can be to a one-club player without being a one-club player. He’s made 389 appearances for them since 2011 – he’s 32 now –and only blotted his one-club copybook by having played one game in the Danish third division for a club called Brønnøysund Idrettslag beforehand.
Team News
For Glimt, captain and midfield lynchpin Patrick Berg, Andreas Helmersen, and Håkon Evjen all return after being suspended for the first leg. Odin Bjørtuft missed the first leg and will be assessed ahead of time.
Spurs’ latest casualty is James Maddison, who’s damaged his knee and will definitely miss this match, and may well be out for the rest of the season. On the up-side, Dominic Solanke and Son Heung-min could be available.
Prediction
On an artificial pitch at a small ground just north of the Arctic Circle is exactly the sort of place where you might expect Spurs to come a cropper, and the realistic among us have to admit that yes, this is a possibility.
But the fact remains that they have saved their absolute best for the Europa League this season, and throwing away a three-goal lead over two legs, even if it was Peak Spurs, seems unlikely. 1-1 and a few nerves, but they should still get fairly safely through.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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