Fiorentina have travelled 750 miles north for a Europa League clash with Tottenham Hotspur. Thursday’s encounter will be the first of two legs to be contested, with White Hart Lane being the venue for the first meeting.
Tottenham have been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride of late, winning slightly more games than they have lost. They come into the Europa League fixture on the backs of a heartbreaking loss to Liverpool just a week ago. On the other hand, Fiorentina come into the match riding high, unbeaten in their last eight matches in all competitions.
Tottenham finished second in the group stage in Group C, one point behind group leaders Besiktas of Turkey. As for Fiorentina’s Europa League resume this season, they finished number one in their group by an impressive four points with a +7 goal differential.
Fiorentina are hoping that their roster, which is full of former Premier League players such as Alessandro Diamanti, Micah Richards and Borja Valero will give them the slight edge in this fixture. In Tottenham’s case, they have one player on their roster that has played in the Serie A and that is former Roma winger, Erik Lamela. Many pundits give Fiorentina the edge in this matchup due to experience of their players in the Premiership.
Thursday’s clash is shaping up to be the best fixture in the entire round of 32. The match kicks off tomorrow night at 8:05pm from north London, which means 9:05pm in Florence. The second leg will take place at the Artemio Franchi on February 26 in what promises to be a thrilling affair.
