Tottenham v Tromso: Spurs to show pretenders no mercy

Andre Villas-Boas has already articulated his desires to win the Europa League this season and Tottenham have the perfect opportunity to send out an early message to the competition against cannon-fodder Tromso.

The seriousness of which AVB is taking Europe’s second-tier competition was clearly evident in the strength of the side he fielded for the first leg of their play-off against Dinamo Tbilisi, where £26m man Roberto Soldado helped himself to a brace in a 5-0 trouncing.

Spurs couldn’t have asked for a gentler opener in Group K either, against a Tromso side who’ve only made the competition because Besiktas were thrown out, while they’ve endured a torrid season in Norway – where they’ve won just six of 23 games to date.

Therefore, Tottenham’s 1/7 for victory is as un-opposable as a Zimbabwean election result, while the real money will lie in guessing the final score at White Hart lane and possible scorers to boot.

Three straight away losses to nil in the qualifiers, two of which arrived against far, far lesser opposition than Spurs, also makes the 4/6 on Tottenham following suit one to be aware of.

With such intense competition for starting berths at Spurs, thanks to an influx of talent, you can expect whichever 11 players that get the nod to go at it great guns from the off, as many of the fringe players did in the 3-0 return-leg win over Tbilisi.

If Besiktas overcame the Norwegian strugglers 2-0 in Turkey, then given the calibre of this Spurs side, the 3-0 at 11/2, 4-0 at 9/1 and the 5-0 at 14/1 must all be worthy of serious consideration.

After waiting patiently as ever, Jermain Defoe should be leading the line and has odds of 3/1 to open the scoring have now been boosted by Ladbrokes out to 4/1, which isn’t to be balked at.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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