Matchday 5 of the Europa League 2024/25 group stage will have Tottenham hosting Spanish squad Roma on Thursday in North London.
The Hotspurs will be looking to secure their third home win of the competition and bounce back from their 3-2 loss to Turkish club Galatasaray on November 6th. Tottenham are currently 7th in the Europa League standings on 9 points, 3 points behind leaders Lazio with 3 wins and 1 loss.
Tottenham are inside the top eight of the leaderboard which means they are on course to move straight through to the last 16 next spring. With 4 matches left to be played however, nothing is certain yet.
Roma have only been able to come away with one win in their four matches thus far in the tournament. The win came against Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv by the score of 1-0 on Matchday 3. The team has a record of two draws and one loss in their other 3 matches, for a total of 5 points.
Sitting in 20th place, Roma will be looking to at the very least stay within a top 24 spot to qualify for the play-offs. This match against Tottenham could be critical in their chances to advance and build momentum heading into the back end of the group stage.
Tottenham News
Tottenham come into the matchup on a high after defeating Manchester City 4-0 at the Etihad last weekend in an English Premier League fixture. Their confidence will be sky high after the victory and they will see themselves as big favourites against a struggling Spanish squad.
A big blow for the Hotspurs was the injury sustained by Guglielmo Vicario in the recent win against Man City. The goalkeeper is reported to require surgery on an ankle injury which could keep him out of the squad for months. Fraser Foster will likely start in his place for the time being.
Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero will also remain sidelined, while Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall will hope to start. Rodrigo Bentancur will start as his ban is only for domestic games.
Roma News
Roma have not been able to stay consistent in the Europa League group stage nor in their domestic competition, La liga. While they clearly have a team full of stars, they haven’t quite been able to gel together as a unit and perform when required. In their latest match, Roma fell to Napoli 1-0, managing only one shot on target the whole outing.
The good news for Roma is that they have almost all of their roster ready for action. The only players who could miss out are Mario Hermoso, Eldor Shomurodov and Alexis Saelemaekers who have been listed as doubtful. Lorenzo Pellegrini who returned to the XI recently and should see action again on Thursday.
We expect coach Ranieri to prioritise defense over attacking firepower with the same back five that featured against Napoli likely to get the nod again. Mats Hummels could however break through and make a start.
Tottenham Vs Roma Head-To-Head & Predictions
These two teams have only met three times in the past 20 years, with Roma winning two encounters while Tottenham taking the other. The latest clash between them was in July of 2022, when Roma beat Tottenham 1-0. Both teams have however changed a lot since then, as Tottenham have trended upwards and Roma slightly downwards.
We predict that Tottenham will continue their hot streak and beat Roma in a close match. The Spurs are likely to make a number of changes to their starting lineup but should have enough firepower on their bench to win at home. Roma have been inconsistent this year and still seem to be finding themselves with the new changes to the team.
Prediction: Tottenham 2-0 Over Roma
Tottenham Vs Roma Predicted Lineups
Tottenham predicted lineup: Forster; Gray, Dragusin, Davies, Udogie; Bergvall, Bentancur, Sarr; Johnson, Solanke, Werner.
Roma predicted lineup: Svilar; Celik, Mancini, Ndicka, Angelino; El Shaarawy, Kone, Cristante, Pellegrini; Dybala; Dovbyk.
