Match Preview: AZ Alkmaar (A) | OneFootball

Thursday night will see Tottenham Hotspur back in European action once again, as they travel to the Netherlands for the first leg of their round of sixteen clash against AZ Alkmaar. The sides have already met in the Europa League this season, when Ange Postecoglou's side came out on top by the solitary goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, a penalty by Brazilian forward Richarlison early into the second half. Spurs could definitely use this as a psychological advantage over the Dutch outfit, knowing that they already have got the better of them this campaign.

Team news:

Spurs have been recently boosted by the return of winger Brennan Johnson, who helped the team by scoring twice in the recent win at Ipswich Town, as well as Italian shot stopper Guglielmo Vicario. Djed Spence has been in fine form as of late, and now he is available for selection for the rest of the European campaign after everyone was allowed to re-arrange their squads for the knockout rounds. Dejan Kulusevski has been added to the casualty list recently, with a foot injury expecting to keep the Swedishman out until after the international break.

The attacking midfielder has played the second most amount of minutes by any Spurs player this season, so it's not a surprise to see some of it has finally caught up to him. The Lilywhites will still be without Radu Drăgusin, Richarlison, Antonin Kinský, Sergio Reguilón, Fraser Forster and Timo Werner. The latter turning 29 today, meaning the German international will be spending his birthday on the sidelines. The likes of Dominic Solanke, Ben Davies, and the important centre back partnership of Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero are all still doubtful.

AZ Alkmaar come into this game in very decent form, winning six of their last eight games in all competitions, and progressing through to the next round of the KNVB Cup final after being Heracles 4-3 via a penalty shoot-out. Their home form in Europe has also been exceptional, winning four and drawing just the one of their five matches at the AFAS Stadion so far, something Spurs should definitely be aware of that and will know they will be in for a tough game.

Former Spurs academy Troy Parrott is the red and whites front man these days, after he was brought in to replace the Greek forward Vangelis Pavlidis, who went to Benfica. The Irishman has four goals in eight starts in the Europa League this term, and tallying up another twelve in twenty-three starts in the Dutch top flight - so he's averaging a goal every couple of games, proving he knows where the back of the net is, and he'll be looking to prove to the North Londoners why they shouldn't have let him go!

The game will kick off at 18:45PM local time (17:45PM UK time) and will be shown live on TNT Sports 3 and Discovery Plus in the United Kingdom, with coverage beginning at 5:00PM. It will be interesting to see if Spurs can take a lead back to North London or if Alkmaar are going to make it a mountain to climb for Ange and his side!