Tottenham are coming into this one with the pressure firmly on. Ange's side have welcomed back a number of senior players, while AZ are missing a few key players through injury.
The Dutch side are winless in their last eight games away from home in the Europa League, while Spurs are unbeaten in their last 10 European games on home soil, winning nine of those. Ultimately, we think Spurs will produce the goods on what is a huge night for the club. Tottenham 3-1 AZ Alkmaar.
Tottenham's season is on the line in the Europa League this week as they take on AZ Alkmaar having lost the first leg in the Netherlands.
Ange Postecoglu's men fell to a 1-0 loss in the first leg where they were very, very poor. A Lucas Bergvall own-goal was the difference between the two teams, but Spurs created only 0.44xG, an amount that was nearly four times smaller than what the home side managed to create.
Spurs are now in a position where this competition is their entire season, as they sit 13th in the Premier League with no real hope of finishing in the European places. It's safe to say, though, that their performances have done little to inspire any confidence that they are going to be remotely capable of winning this competition, which still contains some very strong sides.
The fans are becoming increasingly irritable having watched their team gradually decline in the years following Mauricio Pochettino's departure, and while much of their anger is directed at chairman Daniel Levy, it's looking increasingly like Postecoglu may not be the man to lead the team forward.
At the very least, if Postecoglu wants to remain Tottenham manager beyond this season, he needs a deep run in this competition. The expectation from the board is likely that he wins it, as it could certainly be argued that they have the players for it on paper. With that seeming unlikely, this could be the final few months of his tenure at the club.
Much of Spurs' poor form this season has been blamed on an injury crisis, and while that's true, it now puts a lot of pressure on the team to show a dramatic improvement, with many senior players now back fit. This is a huge moment in Tottenham's season and how they perform could play a massive part in the club's trajectory in the coming years.
AZ Alkmaar will be very pleased with how they performed in the first leg. They restricted a fairly sorry Spurs side to very few chances and while they'll wish they would have scored more, they'll be more than happy with a win.
The feeling heading to North London will be that Tottenham are there to be got at, as it's been shown on numerous occasions that physical teams with a well-coordinated press can really disrupt their buildup and force them into errors.
The only caveat from their point of view will be that they travelled to Spurs in the group phase and lost to a much changed Tottenham XI, so a starting lineup full of senior players that will be highly motivated could be a very stiff test. Still, the inverse of that is that Spurs are under an immense amount of pressure here, whereas AZ can play with freedom.
AZ will likely try to frustrate Spurs from the off, and if they can manage to quickly turn the North London crowd on Spurs' back, they'll have a very good chance of progressing.
This game will be televised live to all subscribed UK viewers on TNT Sports 3.
Tottenham Team News:
Tottenham are coming into this game without Dejan Kulisevski, Ben Davies, Richarlison and Radu Dragusin.
Rodrigo Bentancur will also be unavailable through suspension.
Predicted lineup: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Spence; Bissouma, Sarr, Bergvall; Johnson, Solanke, Son.
AZ Alkmaar Team News:
The visitors will be without Ruben van Bommel, Denso Kasius, Mayckel Lahdo, Sven Mijnans, Sam Westerveld and Jayden Addai.
Predicted lineup: Owusu-Oduro; Maikuma, Goes, Penetra, Wolfe; Clasie, Koopmeiners; Poku, Burmeester, Sadiq; Parrott.
Tottenham:
Tottenham are amidst a very mixed run of form, with two wins, one draw and two losses from their last five games. Spurs drew 2-2 with Bournemouth at the weekend after Pape Matar Sarr and Son Heung-min scored fortuitous goals to bring them back from 0-2 down in a game they deserved nothing from.
That result followed last week's defeat in the Netherlands, which came after a 0-1 loss to Manchester City, a 4-1 win away at Ipswich - where Brennan Johnson (X2), Djed Spence and Kulusevski scored the goals - and a 1-0 win over Manchester United, courtesy of James Maddison.
AZ Alkmaar:
AZ Alkmaar are in good form, with three wins, one draw and one defeat from their last five outings. AZ's last game was the win over Spurs last week, which was preceded by a 3-1 loss to Heerenveen and a 2-2 draw at Heracles, where Poku and Lahdo scored the goals.
Prior to that, AZ beat Fortuna Sittard 1-0 thanks to a goal from Buurmeester, which was preceded by a 2-2 draw with Galatasaray, where Maikuma and Kasius scored the goals.
Premier League | Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 |  Brentford | 28 | 11 | 5 | 12 | +4 | 38 | |
| 13 |  Tottenham | 28 | 10 | 4 | 14 | +14 | 34 | |
| 14 |  Man Utd | 28 | 9 | 7 | 12 | -6 | 34 | |
| Last updated 12/03/2025 | ||||||||
Dutch Eredivisie | Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 |  Feyenoord | 24 | 12 | 8 | 4 | +21 | 44 | |
| 6 |  AZ | 24 | 13 | 4 | 7 | +16 | 43 | |
| 7 |  Go Ahead | 25 | 12 | 5 | 8 | +6 | 41 | |
| Last updated 12/03/2025 | ||||||||
