Tottenham Hotspur vs. AZ Alkmaar: Europa Match Preview, Odds & Predictions

Tottenham Hotspur must overcome a first-leg deficit at home to AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League on Thursday night to keep alive any hopes of winning silverware this season.

The only thing preventing the teams from being level after last Thursday's match in the Netherlands is Lucas Bergvall's strange own goal, a quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt or Ajax hanging in the balance.

Previous Matches and Head-to-head

Last week's loss for Spurs ensures that they have now won just one of their previous nine first-leg away matches in Europe. Their only triumph was in the last 32 of this competition against Wolfsburger behind closed doors in 2021.

In a very short space of time, it has become the season's biggest game for boss Ange Postecoglou, whose chances of winning a trophy this season are now in serious danger.

FA and EFL Cup glory have both eluded them recently, and their only hope of ending the near-two-decade trophy drought is the Europa League. 

Spurs finished the group stage fourth and secured 10 of a possible 12 points on home soil, winning 1-0 at home to AZ along the way. So, despite the current plight, few will be in panic mode for this one.

Winding it tighter at the back may be the answer. The hosts have scored in all their previous 29 Europa League home matches—a competition best—so the goals will take care of themselves, but stopping them at the other end has been the issue.

Bournemouth twice scored at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, and Postecoglou's side were fortunate not to be 2-0 behind before their late comeback.

That draw leaves them bottom in 13th, 10 points adrift of the top eight. Most of their focus will now be on Europe, and they are the favourites, especially considering that they have won four of their last five home games against Dutch teams.

The only break in that sequence was when Ajax won 1-0 here in the 2019 Champions League semi-finals, but Spurs went on to reach the final after the late dramatic turnaround in Amsterdam.

There was little or nothing to set AZ up before this first leg, but they beat Spurs last week to end a 10-match winless run against English sides.

But they remain the big outsiders, for they have lost all nine of their past trips to England in Europe—the worst 100% losing record any club has experienced in European football history.

Ones on the ground in general trouble Maarten Martens's team, as AZ has not won any of their last 10 away games in Europe, and they will equate their worst-ever sequence unless they win this one, too.

Nonetheless, to alert the visitors, they were allowed to re-arrange their league game against Waalwijk this weekend to leave them with as much time as possible before this one.

To date, in 2025, AZ supporters have been completely bonkers on three levels. To get to this point, they overpowered Turkish heavyweights Galatasaray 6-3 on aggregate.

Since losing to Ferencvaros on league phase matchday eight, AZ has won seven of its nine matches in all competitions, keeping it in contention for the Eredivisie top three.

The greatest win of them all came against Heracles Almelo in the KNVB Beker semi-finals; however, it paved the way for a silverware opportunity against Go Ahead Eagles in next month's final.

Tottenham Hotspur x AZ Alkmaar Team News

Spurs will not have midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur, however, as his first-leg yellow card has landed him a one-match suspension, while Archie Gray and Bergvall only came into the weekend as substitutes, so Postecoglou has lots to choose from to fill the gap.

Micky van den Ven and Cristian Romero both returned from extended lay-offs at the weekend and would be good money for a starting partner at center-back here, with Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies both out injured.

Dejan Kulusevski is Tottenham's biggest miss today. The Swede has supplied 20 assists in all competitions this term, and Richarlison, who scored one goal when Tottenham defeated AZ during the league round, is also sidelined.

AZ will also be without Mayckel Lahdo, who was forced off after just 10 minutes of the first leg. His replacement, Denso Kasius, was also taken off shortly after the hour. 

The other two will join them on the sidelines alongside experienced duo Sven Mijnans and Ruben van Bommel, as promising young front pair Jayden Addai and Mexx Meerdink are injured as well.

Troy Parrott, a former youth player of Spurs, must return to lead the attack again in the hope of scoring against the club he broke through at as a young player. He has failed to do so in their two meetings this term.

Our Predictions

Tottenham to win & Over 2.5 goals @ 1.97 on Sky247.ng

Spurs have been superb at home in Europe this season, apart from a few nervous moments at the end against Roma, and scored nine goals in their four league phase matches here, and the side will be in no uncertainty as to how important this match is to their season.

AZ has lost on all nine previous trips to England, and while they will certainly get chances in front of the goal here, they will feel that they let a golden chance slip away by not winning by more than one goal in the first leg when they controlled for most of the duration.

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