After a rather lengthy hiatus the Europa League is back, which means football fans have something to do with their Thursday nights again! The two month period of pretending to enjoy soaps is over; it’s time to get back to business.
With Wigan seeing their European adventure brought to an end in the group stages, British hopes lie with Swansea and Tottenham in a very competitive year for the competition. With the likes of Porto, Benfica and Ajax all joining the draw for the round of 32 after exiting the Champions League, getting to Turin for the final looks a challenging prospect.
This stands for none more so than for Swansea, who face another side dumped out of the Champions League in Napoli. The Italians are riding high in Serie A at the moment and have a Coppa Italia final to look forward to, so Gary Monk will have his work cut out in his first European fixture in charge. Napoli are currently assessing an injury to striker Gonzalo Higuain, who is a doubt for Thursday’s tie, which could make life a little easier should he fail the late fitness test. Monk will be hoping to benefit from resting eight players last weekend in the FA cup, with Wilfried Bony hoping to extend his good form in the competition. The Welsh side always seem to raise their game for European ties so a great game of football is on the cards.
Tottenham have the unenviable task of flying out to Ukraine for their clash with Dnipro, with the freezing cold temperatures, strong winds and nonstop rain… they’ll feel right at home! Spurs will be refreshed from having the previous weekend fixture-free and will be looking to grab an away goal or two out in the East. After the loss of their record European goal scorer Jermain Defoe, Tim Sherwood may look to forgotten man Roberto Soldado to redeem himself, following his dismal league form. Dnipro will be playing their first competitive game since December, so Spurs will look to act on their opponents’ rustiness from the start. A win over the two legs could set up a potential last 16 tie with Benfica and, say what you want about the Europa League, that’s a mouth-watering game in anyone’s book.
Putting the patriotism to one side for a minute, there are some other cracking ties being played this week – Maccabi Tel-Aviv playing host to Basel for one. With both teams top of their respective divisions, it will be hard to separate the two teams when they do battle in Israel. In a less evenly-matched tie, bookies favourites Juventus welcome Trabzonspor to Turin. With the Italians running away with Serie A, this looks like a home banker, with Carlos Tevez and Paul Pogba on form, the Turks will be hard pressed to leave with anything.
One game to look out for may be in Russia as Anzhi Makhachkala, currently bottom of the Russian League, welcome Genk from Belgium. Anzhi are yet to win a domestic game so far this season, mainly due to the financial issues which saw Samuel Eto’o and Willian both pack their bags for Chelsea, but have still managed to progress in Europe. Can the Russians keep their miraculous European form going?
So that’s this Thursday taken care of, and I can assure you there will be more action and drama than Eastenders and Corrie put together!
Adam LeRoux
Image courtesy of Express.co.uk