Europa League to determine first choice striker now

Tomorrow nights UEFA Europa League tie is an important game that will answer an important question.

Europa League to determine first choice striker now


White Hart Lane hosts Asteras Tripolis, a Greek football club from the town of Tripoli in Arcadia who top the group with 4 points after 2 games.

Group C

Team
PldWDLGFGAGDPts
Greece Asteras Tripoli211031+24
Turkey Beşiktaş20202202
England Tottenham Hotspur20201102
Serbia Partizan201102−21

The second XI that Tottenham have been playing in this competition have failed to shine as an attacking force, they have struggled to score and have managed 1 goal in 2 games and been outplayed by Beşiktaş.

Asteras Tripoli managed a creditable away draw at Beşiktaş so are not a side that can be underestimated. They have netted 3 times so far and their leading scorer is 29-year-old Argentinian striker Facundo Parra.

Argentina Facundo ParraGreece Asteras Tripoli2 Goals80 Minutes Played

Fixtures  & ResultsAsteras TripoliBeşiktaşPartizanTottenham Hotspur
Asteras Tripoli27 Nov2–06 Nov
Beşiktaş1–16 Nov11 Dec
Partizan11 Dec23 Oct0–0
Tottenham Hotspur23 Oct1–127 Nov

But there is more to this game than a UEFA Europa League result. Emmanuel Adebayor had to international games for Togo during the international break against Uganda. He played the last of those on Wednesday and therefore arrived back late, too late to be ready to take part in the Manchester City game.

Roberto Soldado stepped in for a rare Premier League game and was equally as good, if not better, than vice-captain Adebayor. Tottenham play Newcastle United on Sunday at 1.30 GMT and Mauricio Pochettino will want to keep the striker playing in that game fresh for it. Thus whoever plays tomorrow will not be starting against Newcastle.

There is still the Paulinho dilemma, where do you play him, he seems to fail wherever you put him with his half hearted disinterested displays. Where you play him dictates where you play Harry Kane. If Paulinho or even Dembele plays the attacking central midfielder role then Harry Kane starts up front.

The other option once again is to play Harry Kane in the central attacking role behind either Roberto Soldado or Emmanuel Adebayor with Paulinho either on the right of the three or on the bench. Should Pochettino choose that option then whoever plays is the number two striker and whoever doesn't is the number one.

Team selection will be an interesting one.