Tottenham Hotspur FC vs. LASK 10/22/20 - UEFA Europa League Picks & Predictions

Last Updated: 10/20/2020 at 11:38 AM ET

Tottenham Hotspur opens its Europa League campaign at home on Thursday at White Hart Lane when hosting LASK Linz. Tottenham is coming off a disappointing result at the weekend in the English Premier League. The Spurs raced out to a 3-0 lead against West Ham, only to have the Hammers battle back and somehow grab a 3-3 result and share the spoils with the Spurs. 

The Spurs have played excellent football with the exception of their late collapse at the weekend. Tottenham, just prior to the break for international play, thrashed Manchester United at Old Trafford 6-1. Even with solid results,  Tottenham must fix its leaky defense as the club has not kept a clean sheet in its last nine matches played and in Europa League play has given up goals to Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Maccabi Haifa and Shkendija.

LASK have finished second behind RB Salzburg in each of the last two regular seasons of Austria's top-flight League. The club’s record in Europe last year was up and down after winning a group that featured PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon and AZ Alkmaar. However, they followed that with a loss to Manchester United of 7-1 and must regroup the back line when visiting the Spurs on Thursday.

This season, LASK defeated DAC Dunajska Streda by a score of 7-0 and took care of Sporting 4-1 in Portugal. The club has a solid back line led by Philipp Wiesinger and skipper Gernot Trauner and upfront are led by Marko Raguz who has five goals and the same number of matches. The youngster, who is just 22, played very well in European competition last year and will threaten the leaky backline of the Spurs from the start.

Tottenham has proved it can score goals evidenced by its 6-1 thrashing of Manchester United at Old Trafford two weeks ago. The Hotspurs jumped out to a 3-0 against West Ham this past weekend but a leaky backline allowed the Hammers to rally to grab a draw. However, against LASK look for Jose Mourinho’s club to make it much more difficult for the Austrian club to get good looks in the box. The Spurs win at home on Thursday. Final Score Prediction, Tottenham wins 4-1

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