Following the conclusion of Matchday 2, Tottenham Hotspur are now favourites to win the 2024-25 UEFA Europa League with the Opta supercomputer. With two wins from two against Qarabag and Ferencvárosi TC, Spurs are one of just five teams to still have a 100% record in the competition after the opening two matchdays, alongside Lazio, Lyon, FCSB and RSC Anderlecht.
Fans with Tottenham tickets are already looking ahead to the fixtures and are quite optimistic that we will go ahead with the winning probability. On paper, the Spurs look the best out of the rest of the teams, but it will come down to the knockout stages. When simulating the Europa League 10,000 times ahead of MD 1, Ange Postecoglou’s side won the competition in 8.6% of the simulations. That has now risen to 15.1%, above Serie A club Lazio (13.6%) and FC Porto (11.5%).
Lazio only won the Europa League in 6.1% of pre-season simulations by the supercomputer, but that has now increased to 13.6% following consecutive wins across the opening two matchdays against Dynamo Kyiv and Nice, tallying a competition-high seven goals. Porto was the favorites ahead of MD 1, but a surprise away defeat to Bodø/Glimt in their opening game and a dramatic draw at home to Manchester United on MD 2 – a game in which they recovered from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 until a stoppage-time equalizer via Harry Maguire—have seen the Portuguese side drop to third favorites in the Opta supercomputer projections.
However, trusted reseller platform Seatsnet is still seeing a surge in Manchester United sales, with fans optimistic about the club’s progress. There is, however, no indication from Seatsnet predictors that there will be a Spurs-United clash. They now have an 11.5% chance of winning the competition compared to 17.8% before a ball was kicked in 2024-25.
Europa League Predictions Opta Supercomputer
Spurs win the league phase of the competition in 24.7% of the latest Opta supercomputer simulations and secure a top-eight finish 80.5% of the time – both the highest of any club. Lazio follows the Premier League side regarding chances of finishing top in the league phase (20.4%), while Lyon—who have enjoyed wins over Olympiakos and Rangers in their two matches—are the only other side with more than a 10% likelihood of winning the league phase (11.7%).
Manchester United was only deemed sixth favorites before the competition began, lifting the trophy in 7.1% of the Sims; after back-to-back draws with Twente and Porto, that’s dropped even further to 4.9%.
Brighton Defeat – Worst Ever Says Manager
Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou said his side’s 3-2 defeat against Brighton in the Premier League was his “worst defeat” since joining Tottenham. Tottenham ended the first half 2-0 up after goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison before conceding three times in the second half. Tottenham would have moved to the fringe of the top four had they won the game, but they instead went into the international break in ninth place with 10 points from their seven matches.
Brighton is up to sixth, two points better off. The fans with Tottenham tickets were pleased going into the fixture with Brighton, but it wasn’t the Spurs day. While Johnson continued his purple patch, the defense for the Spurs was all over the park, eventually ending in disaster and heartbreak. Postecoglou criticized his side’s mentality and complacency in the second half, adding: “Maybe things were traveling on too smoothly. Football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself, and that’s what it looked like in the second half.
It was a tough pill to swallow for the fans who were at the game with hard-to-find options from reseller ticket marketplaces such as Seatsnet. The team wasn’t there at least performing 90% the way they played the previous week. For now, the fans will hope that Spurs can develop a stronger display when play resumes.
Solanke in England Squad
Tottenham forward Dominic Solanke has been named in Lee Carsley’s England squad for their upcoming UEFA Nations League matches against Greece and Finland. England face Greece at Wembley on Oct. 10, followed by a trip to Finland on Oct. 13 in Carsley’s third and fourth games as interim head coach.
Solanke, who joined Tottenham for £65 million ($83m) in the summer, has scored three goals in five matches this season after recovering from an ankle injury. His form follows a successful spell at Bournemouth last season, where he scored 19 goals in 38 Premier League games. For the Spurs fans, it was a long wait after Harry Kane’s exit to find a prospective replacement at the front.
The Brazilian signing Richarlison was meant to be the big signing, but all the hype was shortlived among all the fans with Tottenham tickets.
But Solanke looks like he’s fitting well into Harry Kane’s shoes, slowly showing glimpses of stardom. “Dom’s a player that I’m fully aware of having worked with him in the past,” Carsley told a news conference on Thursday.
“Dom was really close to being in the last squad. He got that injury just before selection. He’s a player who’s done so well at Bournemouth, and he’s taken that form into Spurs.
“He’s got a lot of really good attributes that I really like, and he’s a really nice person. He’s extremely talented, and it’s good that we’ve got him.”
Solanke already has one England cap, having come on as a substitute in a friendly against Brazil in 2017. Carsley, who was named as interim head coach following Gareth Southgate’s departure after England’s defeat in the Euro 2024 final, wouldn’t say whether he has had talks with the Football Association (FA) about taking over the role permanently.
Ange Postegclou Shellsocked
If only there were a word for that sort of performance from Tottenham. At half-time, they were 2-0 up and seemed utterly in control, Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson ripping Brighton apart down the right. Everything was in sync for another win for the fans who had options from the official sources and from resellers such as Seatsnet.
But it all changed in the second half. This was the 10th time Spurs have lost a Premier League game, having been two goals up. No other side have done it on more than seven occasions.
There may have been a couple of warning signs in the first half, the sense that Brighton had the capacity to slice Spurs open. But the story at the break seemed to be of Brighton’s fragility, the remarkable vulnerability of their high line. The tone was set within 16 seconds as Dominic Solanke released Timo Werner behind Joël Veltman; again and again, the away side hit the space Chelsea had exploited last week.
It felt like poetry in motion for the fans with Tottenham fans. Fabian Hürzeler has insisted the issue is not the height of the line but a lack of pressure on the ball. Still, playing a line that high with players as slow on the turn as Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster means there is no failsafe, such as Spurs enjoy with the pace of Micky van de Ven.
Spurs could have got more before the break. Postecoglou said that Spurs should have “put the game to bed”. He seemed almost shell-shocked afterward, standing on the pitch for a lengthy period and then acknowledging that his side hadn’t done the basics, that they hadn’t competed after half-time. For Postecoglou, who’s always been a fan favorite, this hits deeper. The club had momentum back after a stiff start, and for him, it feels like he’s disappointed everyone who’s paid buck to come watch the match through marketplace tickets from Seatsnet.
Comments