The Independent

Tottenham’s 1984 UEFA Cup winner Mark Falco has told the current team the lows of this season will quickly be forgotten if they win a trophy.

Spurs are 14th in the Premier League after a dismal domestic campaign, which has increased the scrutiny on Ange Postecoglou, who struggled with an injury crisis throughout the winter months.

The only chance for Tottenham to salvage this campaign is Europa League success, with a quarter-final tie with Eintracht Frankfurt on the horizon for April after they produced a comeback victory to beat AZ Alkmaar earlier this month.

Falco was a key part of a Keith Burkinshaw side who went all the way in the UEFA Cup in a 1983-84 season which also provided challenges.

Tottenham eventually finished eighth in the old First Division after injuries to influential figures like Glenn Hoddle and Falco believes it can serve as a lesson for Postecoglou’s squad.

“No, you forget all the aches and pains, the testing times, that evaporates and drifts away because you have a big smile on your face and you can say you’ve done well. If they can do it this year, I would be so proud and pleased as punch,” Falco told the PA news agency.

“We’ve played some great football and we just need to get the team back together. It’s coming gradually and the injuries are being patched.

“Hopefully we can get the whole team and squad back together firing on all cylinders.”

Similarities can be drawn between the heroes of 1984 and modern-day Tottenham with both teams struggling throughout December and March of their respective seasons.

The two sides also exited the FA Cup at the start of February, but Falco recalled how it was all worth it after a successful penalty shootout win over Anderlecht in the second leg of the final at White Hart Lane clinched what has proved to be the club’s last European trophy to date.

Falco added: “It was quite a gruelling season but it all came good and to win the trophy at the end of it was a good reward for all the efforts the boys put in.

“To win the actual trophy in front of your own fans, on the last kick with a penalty save by Tony Parks, it is one you write down and say it can’t happen because it is Hollywood stuff, but to win a trophy and a European trophy at our own ground was magnificent.

“It was a great achievement for all the boys because there was nearly eight home-grown or not-big signings in the final team, so it was a quite a local and great thing for the club to put young talent in at the time.”

Sunday will give Falco the chance to return to his old stomping ground as a Spurs Legends XI face AC Milan Glorie at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Falco is excited to play at the 62,850-seater venue again after he featured against Inter Milan Legends in 2019, which serves as a good omen.

“Well, my knees are gone and my back is shot but other than that I am great,” Spurs’ 89-goal forward Falco joked.

“People know I am a lifelong Spurs fan and my family are so to put a Spurs shirt on and get out at the main stadium is unbelievable, especially at the rip old age of 64!

“We got to the (Champions League) final the last time we had a friendly against Inter Milan, so hopefully we can go one better and win this year after playing AC.”

:: Mark Falco will be playing for Spurs Legends vs. AC Milan Glorie on Sunday in aid of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation. Tickets available at http://tottenhamhotspur.com/legendstickets

The new Women's Super League marks the start of a new era for reigning champions Chelsea, with long-serving boss Emma Hayes having departed in summer to start a new adventure with the USA Women's team.

Last year they just about did enough to claim the title on goal difference ahead of Manchester City, while Arsenal will again hope to make it a three-horse race for the WSL title. Meanwhile Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham will hope to progress after further rebuilding this summer.

Crystal Palace were promoted to replace Bristol City in the top flight, while on a wider note, the league is now under the management and operation of a new organisation set up to lead women's football towards further growth and progression, with Nikki Doucet overseeing both the WSL and Championship in a new phase for the game.

Follow the live action below as Tottenham Hotspur face Brighton & Hove Albion today in the WSL:

Follow live coverage as Fulham face Tottenham Hotspur today in the Premier League. Another top-flight season will be covered in full right here with The Independent, as reigning champions Manchester City look to make it an unprecedented five titles in a row come the end of 2024/25.

The likes of Arsenal and Liverpool will be chasing Pep Guardiola's side, but just as fascinating will be the race for Champions League places, with more teams than ever before having designs on top-four finishes. Chelsea remain big-spending, Manchester United's latest rebuild continues and both Tottenham and Newcastle will expect improvements this year - yet it was Aston Villa who snared fourth last term.

Meanwhile, it's Southampton, Leicester City and Ipswich Town who made it back to the elite after promotion last year and each will have hope they can make it more than a one-year stay. Follow the latest live action from the Premier League below:

Tottenham Hotspur host AZ Alkmaar in the second leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie tonight, with Ange Postecoglou’s side on the back foot and looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit.

The visitors produced a flat performance in the Netherlands last week as Lucas Bergvall was at fault for the only goal of the evening, so Postecoglou’s men will be hoping to produce a better display in order to avoid exiting the competition they are among the nominal favourites to win.

Spurs came back from 2-0 down in their last outing to salvage a point against Bournemouth in the Premier League, but know that time is running out to rescue their season, with the Europa League their last shot at silverware.

AZ Alkmaar meanwhile are sixth in the Eredivisie, with three wins in their last five, and will be aiming to pull off the upset of the round if they can build on their first-leg lead.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match:

The match is due to kick off at 8pm GMT on Thursday, 6 March at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the game live on TNT Sports 3, with coverage starting at 7pm. Subscribers can also watch online via discovery+.

You can purchase a TNT Sports subscription via discovery+ here, for £30.99 per month.

Dejan Kulusevski and Kevin Danso are expected to miss the contest for Spurs, with the latter absent from training on Wednesday and looks set to be on the sidelines until after the intermational break.

Richarlison is also out and is forecasted to remain unavailable until April, despite having returned to training. Rodrigo Bentancur is suspended after picking up one booking too many in the away leg.

Ben Davies, on the other hand, is back available after recovering from a knock, while Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero are also fit to feature - a major defensive boost for Postecoglou.

AZ Alkmaar were dealt a double injury blow in the first leg as Mayckel Lahdo was forced off inside just 10 minutes, before his replacement, Denso Kasius, was later withdrawn on the hour mark.

They join Sven Mijnans, Ruben van Bommel, Jayden Addai and Mexx Meerdink on the sidelines for the visitors, who will turn to former Spurs frontman Troy Parrott to do the business once again on his return to North London.

Tottenham XI: Vicario; Spence, Gray, Romero, Udogie; Maddison, Bergvall, Sarr; Johnson, Tel, Son

AZ Alkmaar XI: Owusu-Oduro; Maikuma, Goes, Penetra, Wolfe; Clasie, Koopmeiners; Poku, Buurmeester, Lahdo; Parrott

Tottenham win - 4/9

Draw - 18/5

AZ Alkmaar win - 5/1

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Spurs looked turgid in last week’s encounter but should produce enough to overwhelm AZ, the heavy underdogs in this tie - and may feel fired up after the criticism they’ve received since that first leg.

Tottenham host Bournemouth in what feels like crunch time for Ange Postecoglou’s side. An embarrassing 1-0 defeat to AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League midweek has left them with a small mountain to climb if they want to win the last remaining trophy available to them this season, but their crisis of confidence has come at the worst time with the high-flying Cherries making the trip to north London this Saturday.

Andoni Iraola’s team are seventh, just four points off the top four, while Spurs are 13th and another ten points off the pace. The hosts suffered another setback on Thursday when Dominic Solanke, the striker they signed from Bournemouth last summer, came off injured after only just making his return from a seven-week absence for a knee issue.

Tottenham host Bournemouth this weekend in an encounter of contrasting fortunes.

The Cherries are seventh in the Premier League and only four points off the top four, while Spurs are down in 13th and reeling from an unfortunate 1-0 Europa League defeat to AZ Alkmaar in midweek.

Ange Postecoglou’s side suffered another blow as Dominic Solanke limped off with what appeared to be a lower back issue, having only recently returned from a knee injury that kept him out for seven weeks.

Andoni Iraola by contrast has overseen an impressive campaign by Bournemouth, although they’ll be looking to bounce back from dropping points in disappointing losses to Brighton and Wolves in recent weeks. The chance to complete a first-ever league double over Spurs might be what he needs to get some spark back into his side.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match:

The match is due to kick off at 2pm GMT on Sunday, 9 March at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Viewers in the UK can watch the game live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event.

You can add Sky Sports to any Sky TV package for £22 per month for all nine sports channels, or the complete sports package plus Netflix is available for £43 per month. Subscribers will also be able to watch via the Sky Go app.

If you’re not a Sky customer, you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.

Tottenham XI: Vicario; Porro, Gray, Danso, Spence; Sarr, Bentancur, Maddison; Johnson, Son, Odobert

Bournemouth XI: Kepa; Cook, Hill, Huijsen, Kerkez; Adams, Scott; Semenyo, Kluivert, Ouattara; Evanilson

Tottenham win -

Draw -

Bournemouth win -

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Spurs have a point to prove after their embarrassing defeat to AZ Alkmaar on Thursday but Iraola’s men look to have too much quality for the hosts.

Tottenham Hotspur take on Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie, with Ange Postecoglou’s side looking to take a decisive advantage back to London.

The Europa League is Spurs’s last remaining chance of silverware this season and embattled boss Postecoglou could do with a boost as his side languish 13th in the Premier League table.

Given their exits from other cup competitions, Spurs have not actually played since a narrow 1-0 loss to Manchester City on 26 February but that break has allowed some key players to return to fitness after injury spells.

The likes of Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Dominic Solanke have now returned to training while James Maddison, Wilson Odobert, Destiny Udogie and Brennan Johnson are also back in action, leaving their boss confident of success against an AZ side lying sixth in the Eredivisie.

Tottenham Hotspur face AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie tonight, with Ange Postecoglou’s side looking to take a decisive advantage back to London.

Spurs have not played since a narrow 1-0 loss to Manchester City on 26 February, but that break has allowed Postecoglou to ease some key players back after long injury spells.

And returning players will help the side push for the only remaining trophy they can win as they look to salvage a disappointing season.

Spurs are among the favourites for the competition, and their first knockout match takes them to the Netherlands to face an Alkmaar side who have slipped to sixth in the Eredivisie.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match:

The match is due to kick off at 5.45pm GMT on Thursday, 6 March at the AFAS Stadium in Alkmaar, Netherlands.

Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the game live on TNT Sports 3, with coverage starting at 5pm. Subscribers can also watch online via discovery+.

You can purchase a TNT Sports subscription via discovery+ here, for only £30.99 per month.

This match may come just too soon for Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Dominic Solanke, though all three have retuned to training so they could feature. Ben Davies and Richarlison are a few days behind that trio in terms of their recovery.

That said, Spurs’ injury crisis has eased in recent weeks, and the squad have had rest since the defeat to City on 26 February.

James Maddison, Wilson Odobert, Destiny Udogie and Brennan Johnson have all returned in the last few weeks, giving Ange Postecoglou plenty of midfield and attacking options ahead of this match.

However, Dejan Kulusevski will be unavailable after picking up a knock.

AZ Alkmaar XI: Owusu-Oduro; Maikuma, Goes, Penetra, Wolfe; Belic, Koopmeiners; Poku, Buurmeester, Lahdo; Parrott.

Spurs XI: Vicario; Porro, Gray, Danso, Udogie; Bergvall, Bentancur, Maddison; Johnson, Tel, Son.

AZ Alkmaar win - 23/10

Draw - 11/4

Tottenham win - 21/20

The Independent vets betting sites for useability, security and responsible gambling tools. You can claim free bets here to use across a range of sports. Please read the terms.

Even if Postecoglou rests players, Spurs should have more than enough quality for the Eredivisie side, and they should take a healthy lead back to London.

The new Women's Super League marks the start of a new era for reigning champions Chelsea, with long-serving boss Emma Hayes having departed in summer to start a new adventure with the USA Women's team.

Last year they just about did enough to claim the title on goal difference ahead of Manchester City, while Arsenal will again hope to make it a three-horse race for the WSL title. Meanwhile Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham will hope to progress after further rebuilding this summer.

Crystal Palace were promoted to replace Bristol City in the top flight, while on a wider note, the league is now under the management and operation of a new organisation set up to lead women's football towards further growth and progression, with Nikki Doucet overseeing both the WSL and Championship in a new phase for the game.

Follow the live action below as Tottenham Hotspur face Manchester City today in the WSL:

Follow live coverage as Tottenham Hotspur face Manchester City today in the Premier League. Another top-flight season will be covered in full right here with The Independent, as reigning champions Manchester City look to make it an unprecedented five titles in a row come the end of 2024/25.

The likes of Arsenal and Liverpool will be chasing Pep Guardiola's side, but just as fascinating will be the race for Champions League places, with more teams than ever before having designs on top-four finishes. Chelsea remain big-spending, Manchester United's latest rebuild continues and both Tottenham and Newcastle will expect improvements this year - yet it was Aston Villa who snared fourth last term.

Meanwhile, it's Southampton, Leicester City and Ipswich Town who made it back to the elite after promotion last year and each will have hope they can make it more than a one-year stay. Follow the latest live action from the Premier League below: