Fiorentina vs Tottenham Prediction and Preview – 18/02/16

Europa League preview – Fiorentina vs Tottenham prediction. 

Marcos Alonso, Yohan Benalouane and Tino Costa returned for Fiorentina at the weekend leaving Croatian midfielder Milan Badelj the only injury concern for Paulo Sousa. Mathias Fernandez comes into the picture after sitting out the game against Inter due to suspension. Khouma Babacar came off the bench to end a two-month barren spell when scoring the last minute winner against Inter on Sunday. The Senegalese striker had failed to find the net in 10 appearances since scoring the only goal of the game against Belenenses when Fiorentina last played in the Europa League.

Mauricio Pochettino is likely to rest a few players but has promised to take the Europa League seriously. Opportunities will be limited with the likes of Nacer Chadli, Erik Lamela, Tom Carroll, Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies hoping to feature. Heung-Min Son started up top instead of Harry Kane when Tottenham beat Monaco 4-1 in this competition back in December and Pochettino could employ the Korean forward in a similar role on Thursday. Tottenham will be without Jan Vertonghen and Clinton N’Jie who are sidelined with injury.

Possible Line-ups

Fiorentina 4-2-3-1 formation: Tatarusanu; Roncaglia, Rodriguez, Astori, Alonso; Vecino, Valero; Tello, Ilicic, Bernardeschi: Babacar

Tottenham 4-2-3-1 formation: Lloris; Trippier, Alderweirald, Wimmer, Davies; Dier, Dembele; Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli, Heung-Min

Statistics

• Fiorentina have won 5 drawn 2 and lost 3 of their last 10 matches
• Tottenham have won 7 drawn 2 and lost 1 of their last 10 matches
• Over the course of their previous 10 matches, Fiorentina have scored an average of 1.3 goals and conceded an average of 1 goal per game
• Over the course of their previous 10 matches, Tottenham have scored an average of 2.2 goals and conceded an average of 0.8 goals per game
• There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 4 of Fiorentina’s previous 10 matches
• There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 6 of Tottenham’s previous 10 matches

Prediction

Fiorentina’s victory on Sunday kept them ahead of Inter and Roma in the battle for the third Champions League qualifying place. Sousa’s side looks to be over a sticky patch which led to four defeats in six games and has now gone five games unbeaten. Fiorentina finished second to Basel with 10 points in Europa League Group I and qualified by taking seven points from the last three games.

Tottenham have won their last seven competitive games and their latest league win at  Manchester City has Pochettino’s side sharing second place with Arsenal, two points behind leaders Leicester City. Tottenham won their last three Europa League games to finish top of Group J with 13 points from a possible 18.

The sides met at the same stage of last season’s competition when Fiorentina won 2-0 after playing a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane. However, there is more momentum with Tottenham who have better strength in depth than 12 months ago.

Tips 

Draw at 9/4 with bet365

Under 2.5 goals at 39/50 with Marathonbet

Correct Score 1-1 at 6/1 with BetVictor

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