Gent v Tottenham Betting Preview – UEFA Europa League 18th February 7.45pm
Tottenham will be heading out to Belgium on Thursday night to continue their UEFA Europa League exploits for the season. The Lilywhites have failed to win in four previous visits to Belgium, and it is likely that they won’t send out their strongest starting eleven for this one. Gent have a massive task on their hands in facing one of the tournament favourites now and their experience against English sides is limited, having lost their one and only previous encounter in Europe against English opposition. Can they hang in there in this first leg to give themselves some hope ahead of their visit to White Hart Lane?
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Gent v Tottenham Betting Tips
This will be the first match up between Gent and Tottenham. The Belgians have only ever faced English opposition in the form of West Ham before and they lost that one 2-1 on aggregate. That was back in the 1964/65 European Cup Winners’ Cup and that was only in the preliminary round as well. Tough tie for the Belgians here who went through the group stage of the Europa League. Their reward for having gotten out the group is that they are now drawn against one of the strong favourites to go and lift the title. Gent have gone W5 D3 L1 in Europe this season so they haven’t done all that badly really and at home you break that down to a W3 D1 L1 record. Gent’s only defeats in their Europa League group stage came against the strong Shakhtar Donetsk. So they can’t be knocked overall, but it suggests that when they face a half-decent side they are likely to struggle. Last season they were in the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League where they lost to Wolfsburg, so there is something there for them but it will take something special to see the move through from this.
But the furthest they have ever gone in the UEFA Cup/Europa League was a quarter final appearance back in the 1991/92 season. Across their last four matches in the Spring of a European competitions, Gent have put up a winless D1 L3 record. They aren’t going along brilliantly at the moment in great form as they have put up a W2 D2 L2 record in their last six games in all competitions. Overall they have won just two of their last eight matches, so they are there for the taking. If you want to look at their overall form at home across all competitions, it is a pretty decent W14 D2 L3 record, going W1 D1 L1 in the Europa League group stage there. You have to take into account the lack of quality across the Belgian top flight in that record of course. Over 2.5 goals is a stretch at a quote of even money at Bet365. It may be a low key affair, but Spurs will create chances against an average back line.
Tottenham’s UEFA Champions League campaign was a huge disappointment for them. They were expected to do so much better. They only took the two wins in the group stage and both of those were against CSKA Moscow. A huge blow for them having to drop to the annoying Thursday night Europa League games, so it will be interesting so how interested Mauricio Pochettino is in the UEFA Europa League because it really hasn’t been high before. Regardless of how strongly they attack this, it’s hard to see them missing out over the two legs of the tie against Gent. Tottenham have visited Belgium four times before in their club history and they have only come away with a D2 L2 record from those four matches. Overall they hold a W3 D3 L2 record in Europe against Belgian opposition. In the Bet365 anytime goalscorer market, some early prices are 20/21 on Harry Kane with Son Heung-Min at 7/4. Tottenham to take a win to nil at Bet365 in the fixture is trading at a price of 15/8. If Spurs go strong they should put up a comfortable first leg lead, if they don’t then there may be value in drifting towards the draw.
Gent v Tottenham Betting Odds
Tottenham 3/4, Draw 13/5, Gent 18/5
Gent v Tottenham Predictions
Assuming that Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t go full blast in this first leg out on the road, it may be worth looking for a draw in the match outright. The 1-1 correct score therefore looks to be a bit of value at Bet365. Spurs will have more than enough in one game back on home soil to see themselves through to the next round. Don’t expect fireworks out on the road from them at all and this is probably going to be very low-key.
