Tottenham can ease the growing pressure on manager Ange Postecoglou during their crunch showdown with Eintracht Frankfurt.
The Spurs boss knows that success in the Europa League is the club’s only lingering hope of saving a dismal season – and possibly his job.
Despite a 3-1 win over Southampton, the Lilywhites sit 14th in the Premier League table with just seven matches remaining.
Tottenham are 16 points adrift of the top four, and Europa League glory is their only realistic route back into the Champions League.
The north Londoners failed in their pursuit of the Carabao Cup and are already out of the FA Cup, leaving UEFA‘s second-tier competition as their only hope to end their silverware drought.
Chairman Daniel Levy has Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola as his top target to replace Postecoglou should they decide to part company.
However, the under-fire Australian can still silence his critics in the Europa League to deliver on his famous second-season promise.
Tottenham vs Frankfurt: Sol searching
Dominic Solanke will be relishing a return to his favoured competition after his continued struggles since his comeback from injury.
The club’s record signing has gone nine matches across three competitions without a goal, either side of a troublesome knee issue.
Solanke drew another blank against basement side Southampton at the weekend, who had conceded 71 goals prior to their 3-1 defeat.
However, the England striker has been involved in six goals in just 361 minutes of Europa League action this season (2 goals, 4 assists), scoring or assisting every 62 minutes.
The only Englishman with more assists in a Europa League season is Bukayo Saka in 2019-29 for Arsenal (five).
- Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt last faced in the UEFA Champions League group stages in 2022-23, with Spurs drawing 0-0 in Germany and winning 3-2 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that season.
- The only previous European knockout meeting between Spurs and Eintracht Frankfurt was in the 1981-82 Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final – Spurs won 2-0 at home before losing 2-1 away in the second leg, but progressed 3-2 on aggregate.
Tottenham vs Frankfurt: Team news
Spurs will be without Dejan Kulusevski and Kevin Danso, with the pair joining long-term absentee Radu Dragusin in the treatment room.
Timo Werner isn’t available to face his former Bundesliga rivals, having not been registered in the club’s Europa League squad.
Rodrigo Bentancur is back from a European ban, while both Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie enjoyed rests against Southampton.
Frankfurt excluded both Oscar Hojlund, brother of Manchester United‘s Rasmus, and Junior Dina Ebimbe from their Europa squad.
Kevin Trapp, Ansgar Knauff and Elye Wahi remain on the sidelines, but Nnamdi Collins is available following a European suspension.
- Tottenham have reached their first major European quarter-final since the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League, when they faced Manchester City and went through on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate draw. They’ve only won one of their last 13 quarter-final matches (D6 L6), a 1-0 home win over Man City in April 2019.
- This is Eintracht Frankfurt’s third UEFA Europa League quarter-final; despite failing to win the first leg of either of their first two (lost 4-2 to Benfica in 2018-19, drew 1-1 with Barcelona in 2021-22), they qualified for the semi-finals both times.
Tottenham vs Frankfurt: What has been said?
Daniel Levy has been told by Simon Jordan that a perceived lack of ambition is causing Spurs fans to turn against him.
Speaking on White & Jordan, the former Crystal Palace chairman explained: “The bottom line is football fans expect ambition from their club, they expect aspiration.
“If Spurs and Daniel Levy aren’t delivering it because his pursuit of sustainability and the model that he wants to work to isn’t going to give them the outcomes that they want, then they have the right to say it.
“I personally think with Daniel that his road is running out in terms of the opportunities he has to defend his position.”
- Eintracht Frankfurt have lost just two of their last 23 matches in the UEFA Europa League (W14 D7) and have won seven games this season. In only one major European season have they won more times, winning nine games in 2018-19.
- Players under the age of 21 have been involved in 10 UEFA Europa League goals for Spurs this season (6 goals, 4 assists), the most by a team in a season since Bayer Leverkusen in 2021-22 (4 goals, 6 assists). The last side with more was Arsenal in 2020-21 (6 goals, 8 assists).
- Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitiké has been involved in six goals in 10 UEFA Europa League appearances this season (3 goals, 3 assists), scoring and assisting in the second leg of the last 16 against Ajax. He hasn’t scored in any of his five away games, however.
Tottenham vs Frankfurt: talkSPORT coverage
This Europa League quarter-final first-leg will take place on Thursday, April 10.
Kick-off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is scheduled for 8pm.
talkSPORT 2 will have live coverage of all the action from north London, with Manchester United vs Lyon on our main channel.
Commentary will come from Jim Proudfoot and Brentford defender Ben Mee.
To tune in to talkSPORT through the website, click HERE for the live stream.
Listen via the talkSPORT app here, or on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
Visit talkSPORT BET for all the latest odds and bet boosts.
The game will be broadcast live on TNT Sports too.
