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Tottenham Hotspur brushed aside Wolfsberger AC in North London this evening to comfortably qualify for the Europa League’s Round of 16.
Goals from Dele Alli and Gareth Bale, as well as a brace from Carlos Vinicius, gave Tottenham a 4-0 win on the night and an 8-1 victory on aggregate.
The scoring started in spectacular fashion through Alli, who pulled off an unbelievable overhead kick following a slick team move. Vinicius then had a shot cleared off the line before Alli set him up for a goal in the second half.
A wonderfully taken left-footed goal from Bale and then a second for Vinicius sealed the match for Tottenham, with Wolfsberger – as they were last week – being thoroughly outclassed.
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Here are five talking points from Tottenham’s 4-0 win over Wolfsberger AC.
#1 Dele Alli looked back to his best
With plenty of questions still swirling around his future at Tottenham, Dele Alli had the spotlight on him tonight as he was chosen to start the game.
But if he was feeling any pressure, the England international certainly didn’t show it. Alli enjoyed his best match for a long time – probably dating back to the early days of Jose Mourinho’s reign at Tottenham – and ended with a goal and two assists to his name.
Obviously his goal will be the major talking point – it was absolutely spectacular, an overhead kick to end a move that Alli himself started. It quite rightly will end up being seen as one of the best Tottenham goals of 2020-21.
However, as Mourinho made sure to point out in his post-game interview, equally impressive were Alli’s assists and overall workrate.
The passes he played for goals from Carlos Vinicius and Gareth Bale were pinpoint. And everything from his movement to his slightly petulant attitude were reminiscent of the Alli that Spurs fans fell in love with half a decade ago.
Whether this performance is now parlayed into a Premier League start against Burnley remains to be seen, but if Alli is truly back to his best, it’ll be hard to leave him out.
#2 Wolfsberger AC failed miserably to test Tottenham’s defence
Tottenham’s defensive issues have been a massive talking point in recent weeks, with practically every member of their backline coming in for criticism at times.
Well, if Jose Mourinho was expecting Wolfsberger to test his defence tonight, he would’ve been sorely disappointed.
The Austrian team were absolutely woeful going forward, offering little more than the odd decent move ending in a weak shot. In fact, the match ended with them having just three shots on target, failing to even remotely test goalkeeper Joe Hart.
With that in mind, question marks remain over Tottenham’s backline even after a big win like this. Burnley aren’t the greatest attacking team either, but Sunday’s Premier League clash will undoubtedly provide Spurs with a trickier test.
Simply put, Wolfsberger were pretty awful tonight.
#3 Does the Europa League represent Tottenham’s best chance of Champions League qualification?
Tottenham are now into the last 16 of the Europa League, which means that they’re essentially just seven matches away from a free ticket to next season’s Champions League.
Sure, it’s worth noting that there are some tremendous sides still left in the tournament. Not only are Premier League giants Manchester United, Arsenal and Leicester likely to join Spurs in the last 16, but the likes of AC Milan, Ajax and Villarreal are also dangerous.
But given they’re now nine points away from the Premier League’s top four, this competition may well represent Tottenham’s best chance of Champions League qualification.
They’ve got this far without really using their best players – Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Tanguy Ndombele – all that much.
And if they can make it into the quarter-finals, there’d perhaps be an argument for Jose Mourinho to begin to prioritise the competition above the Premier League.
Essentially, while Tottenham are lacking the ingredients to make a real title challenge right now, they’ve got enough on paper to beat any team in a single match. And that means that they should be amongst the favourites to win the Europa League this season.
#4 Bale continues to give glimpses of a return to form
After shining in the first leg win over Wolfsberger last week, Gareth Bale produced perhaps his best showing since his return to Tottenham in Sunday’s loss to West Ham.
Tonight the Welshman started on the bench – perhaps a hint that Jose Mourinho is ready to start him against Burnley at the weekend – but he still made sure to make his mark on the game when he came on.
Bale entered the fray on 69 minutes, and less than five minutes later, he scored a wonderful goal. Timing his run to perfection, the Welshman got on the end of a great pass from Dele Alli and curved a left-footed shot into the roof of the net.
It was one of those moments that was much trickier than it looked, and yet seemed easy for a player of Bale’s talent.
After plenty of questions over whether he’s got anything left to offer at the top level, it appears that Bale is finally answering his critics.
Tonight was only a glimpse of a true return to form, but based on what we’ve seen in recent games, he’s definitely getting there. And if he can unleash his best on the Premier League, then Tottenham’s season might begin to go in the right direction again.
#5 Mourinho uses his opportunity to blood some young talent
With his side practically through to the Europa League’s Round of 16 after their first leg win over Wolfsberger, Jose Mourinho took the opportunity to name four academy products on his bench tonight.
Three of them – Marcel Lavinier, Nile John and Dane Scarlett – got their opportunity to play in the match. And while Lavinier looked understandably nervous and John didn’t really do much at all, Scarlett definitely did enough to impress.
Within minutes of coming on, the 16-year-old stole the ball from Wolfsberger’s Gustav Henriksson on the edge of the box and made a run at goal. Carlos Vinicius took the ball from him to score his second of the night, but it still meant that Scarlett had his first assist for Tottenham.
And interestingly, it also meant that Scarlett became the first 16-year-old to assist a Europa League goal since a certain Kylian Mbappe for Monaco in 2015 – coincidentally against Spurs!
Scarlett could even have opened his own account after making a brilliant run to evade his marker, but saw goalkeeper Manuel Kuttin make a decent save.
After the match, Mourinho described Scarlett as a “diamond” and compared him to Marcus Rashford.
That’s a pretty heavy comparison to make, but it’s clear that the youngster has a lot of talent. It’ll be interesting to see whether he can live up to it, perhaps as early as next season.
