Overview
Tottenham need good results in the final two Europa League group games to qualify for the next round. With their current form, it will be very difficult for Spurs to achieve this goal.
Apart from an impressive 1-0 win against Liverpool, Tottenham have only drawn and lost since the end of December last year. They even fell to much weaker opponents like Everton.
The reason for Tottenham's poor form is the injuries to key players, especially in defense. Their number 1 goalkeeper Vicario and two central defenders Romero and Van De Ven have all been absent recently.
With the midfield lacking cohesion, Tottenham often faced dangerous situations. The strength of the attack was not enough to compensate for the huge gaps in their defense.
However, Hoffenheim may be a more suitable opponent for Tottenham. The German representative does not have an impressive attack with only 5 goals after 6 matches in the Europa League this year. On average in the 2024-2025 season, they only have 1.28 goals/match.
With top scorer Adam Hlozek only having 7 goals, Hoffenheim will hardly be able to do anything even though Tottenham are not a good defensive team.
For Tottenham, 3 points in this match will help them get closer to a direct ticket to the 1/16 round of the Europa League. This is extremely necessary because Tottenham will avoid 2 play-off matches for a ticket in February.
Human resources situation
Hoffenheim will be without Bulter, Lenz, Samassekou, Bebou, Kabak, Tohumcu and Promel through injury for this match.
On the other side of the front line, Tottenham will be missing names like Odobert, Bentancur, Romero, Van de Ven, Solanke, Werner, Udogie and Vicario.
Expected lineup:
Hoffenheim: Baumann, Kaderabek, Chaves, N'Soki, Prass, Samassekou, Stach, Bischof, Kramaric, Orban, Hlozek.
Tottenham: Kinsky, Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence, Sarr, Bissouma, Bergvall, Kulusevski, Brennan Johnson, Son Heung-min.
The match between Hoffenheim and Tottenham takes place at 0:45 am on January 24 (Vietnam time).
