Venue: St. Jakob-Park Date: Thursday, April 11th Time: 8:05pm TV: ITV1
Match Preview
When these two sides met at White Hart Lane last week, Tottenham's complacency cost them deeply. A 2-2 draw sees them come in to this match with their place in the Europa League on a knife edge. They will need a stellar showing to seal victory for the first time in six away outings. Spurs come in to the match off the back of a last-ditch 2-2 home draw with Everton, whilst Basel are fresh from a 1-1 away draw with St. Gallen. A place in the semi-finals is at stake alongside Newcastle or Benfica, Lazio or Fenerbahce and Rubin Kazan or Chelsea.
Team News
William Gallas (calf), Aaron Lennon (knee) and - on a more high profile level - talisman Gareth Bale (ankle) all became new injury victims after last weeks encounter, meaning Andre Villas-Boas will be forced into making a number of changes to the starting lineup. Jermaine Defoe aggravated an ongoing pelvic injury, so Emmanuel Adebayor will be expected to lead the line for the Lilywhites, while Kyle Naughton is expected to make way for Kyle Walker after the England right back served his European suspension in last week's game. Gylfi Sigurdsson is likely to be handed a start after his late equalizer against Everton, while Michael Dawson is expected to fill in for the injured Gallas and Brad Friedel will take his usual place in the starting lineup in Europe in place of Hugo Lloris. Basel were fantastic in the first leg, surprising many viewers, with Marco Strellar, Valentin Stocker and Mohamad Salah in particular all asking a number of questions of the Tottenham defence. The talented trio are all expected to start this match and may be joined by the experienced Alexander Frei if coach Murat Yakin opts to field two strikers in the home leg. Park Joo-Ho and Marcelo Diaz are both back in contention after returning from suspension, whilst the now-fit Cabral could claim a place in the starting eleven after his brief second half cameo at White Hart Lane. Philipp Degen has also recovered from injury, but is unlikely to displace Salah in the starting eleven after the Egyptians eye-catching performance in the first leg. Team News Source:
BBC Sport
Likely Lineups
FC Basel - Sommer; Steinhofer, Voser, Dragovic, Schar; Salah, Cabral, F Frei, Stocker; Strellar, A Frei.
Tottenham Hotspur - Friedel; Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto; Parker, Dembele; Sigurdsson, Holtby, Dempsey; Adebayor.