-
Spurs' attack are in top gear ahead of Hungary trip
-
Ferencvaros struggle for clean sheets in Europa League
-
Solanke and Johnson racking up shots on target
Ferencvaros v Tottenham Hotspur
Thursday 3 October, 17:45
Live on TNT Sports 1
Spurs can head to international break in good spirits
The majority of the noise coming out of Old Trafford on Sunday revolved around how bad Manchester United had been, but as plenty of Spurs fans would have been keen to underline, Ange Postecoglou's side were also very impressive.
Even before Bruno Fernandes' red card took the game away from the hosts, Spurs had been truly dominant in the opening 40 minutes or so. In fact, the visitors had as many shots (12) before the red card as they managed in the rest of the game (12), while their possession average before and after was only 2% higher following Fernandes' dismissal.
With confidence spiked and Spurs' attacking game flowing nicely, this should be a good time to believe in their strength. As one of the better sides in the Europa League this season, even a midweek away trip to Hungary is one they should feel plenty prepared to overcome in their current condition.
Ferencvaros struggle in Europe
As for Ferencvaros, finding victories in the Europa League has been a struggle for them ever since their first involvement in the current format in 2019-20. The Hungarian side have only won five of their 21 matches in the competition, with all five victories coming by just a single goal. On home soil, they've won just three of 10 games in the Europa League, including only four of their last 19 home games in major European competition overall.
Along with a victory for Ange Postecoglou's side in this one, I'll pair that with over 3.5 goals in the game. At least four goals have been scored in four of Ferencvaros' last eight home matches in the UEFA Europa League, while Spurs are a much more ambitious attacking side than your average opponent.
Indeed, both teams have scored in six of those eight games too, with Ferencvaros only managing one clean sheet themselves in that time. If they can't keep their opponent out in the majority of their home games in this competition, a Spurs side who've netted three goals in each of their last three outings shouldn't have too many problems getting us most of the way to over 3.5 goals.
Back Spurs to win and over 3.5 match goals
Spurs' in-form attackers to stay hot
With only two games to go until Spurs can take a breather in the international break, along with the fact they'll be missing Son Heung-min through injury, leaving their main man Dominic Solanke in for the trip to Hungary seems a likely decision.
The 27-year-old comes into this one on a run of three consecutive games with a goal, netting against Brentford, Qarabag and Manchester United all within the last fortnight. Indeed, the last time he had a longer scoring streak at club level was back in April 2022 (4), while he was playing for Bournemouth in the Championship. Solanke is rapidly finding his feet, and profiting from the ambitious attacking environment he now finds himself in.
After only landing three shots on target in his first three appearances for Spurs, he has since racked up eight in his last three appearances. Had his side not gone down to 10 men early on in the game against Qarabag, Solanke probably would have added to that volume too.
Having seen the ball hit the back of the net frequently of late, along with the fact he's loading up the shots to support his streak, I'll stick with Solanke to land at least two shots on target in this one.
To go with that, I'll add in 1+ shot on target for another in-form man in Brennan Johnson. The Welshman has netted in each of his last four outings for Spurs, which marks his best ever run in front of goal in English football. To add to that, the 23-year-old has landed at least one shot on target in all but one of his eight games for Spurs so far this season (eight overall).
With the absences of both Son Heung-min and Wilson Odobert for Thursday night's game, a scarcity of alternatives on the wing should mean a good chance of him playing notable minutes in this one.
Back 2+ shots on target for Dominic Solanke and 1+ for Brennan Johnson