Match Preview: Spurs Vs KAA Gent

Tottenham will be without left-back Danny Rose and midfielder Erik Lamela for Thursday’s Europa League last-32 second-leg tie against Gent at Wembley.

Rose has missed four matches after injuring his knee in January’s 0-0 draw with Sunderland, while Lamela has been absent since October with a hip injury.

The game starts at 20:05 GMT and Spurs trail 1-0 after the first leg, but have never lost to a Belgian team at home.

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino said the game was “another final at Wembley”.

He added: “We need to use all our energy to find a way to the next round.

“Danny continues to recover and rehabilitate, but remains a number of weeks away from full training.

“Erik is making progress and is now working on the field. No date is yet confirmed for a return to full training and his recovery continues to be monitored.”

Thursday’s game at Wembley is sold out and striker Harry Kane believes Spurs have to try to make the national stadium their home.

Spurs have until the end of March to confirm whether they will play all their home matches at Wembley next season, with the plan to move back into their redeveloped stadium at the start of the 2018-19 campaign.

“We don’t know what we are doing next season, so we want to make it as good for us as possible and win as many games as we can there and get that confidence going,” said the 23-year-old.

“The more we play there, the further we will be going in competitions. It is important we try to do that.”

Kane’s hat-trick helped the North London club to their first win in four games with a 3-0 win over Fulham in the FA Cup on Sunday.

“Everyone is calling it a blip,” he said. “It is one game away to Liverpool that we lost and away at Gent, but that is one we can turn around.

“If we win on Thursday it makes it a lot sweeter and it doesn’t seem as bad.

“Obviously we are not going to play the whole season perfectly – there are going to be ups and downs. It is about limiting them and hopefully we are on the up for the rest of the season.”

Gent manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck says the occasion will be ‘a fantastic moment’ for his club and team.

“We’ll try to play our game as usual and I’m confident we’ll show something in this fantastic stadium. It’s good we’ll be able to train here already,” he said.

“I didn’t think Tottenham underestimated us in the first game, they won’t underestimate us either on Thursday.”

(BBC Sport)

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