Football betting tips: Europa League
1pt Dejan Kulusevski 1+ assists at 15/4 (William Hill)
BuildABet @ 18/1
- Dejan Kulusevski 1+ assists
- 5+ corners each team
- Richarlison 2+ shots on target
What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
The irresistible force paradox is best applied in footballing terms to the meeting of two teams at the top of their game, but perhaps we can flip it to the other end of the scale with a slight sarcastic tone.
Even passing followers of Premier League football understand Tottenham's current struggles yet over in the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim are staring at an unexpected relegation battle.
A European campaign sitting alongside a survival struggle happened to Union Berlin last season as well. Perhaps this is the new fashion of Germany's top-flight - you host Real Madrid one game and lose to Bochum in the next.
There will be significant focus on Spurs in the build-up to this game - the pre-match coverage will basically be dominated by it. Will Ange Postecoglou stay? What about the injury problems? Surely they have no chance of an away win in Europe in this form?
But every league has a crisis club or two. The current top-three have beaten Hoffenheim and done so comfortably. Two of their three home league wins have been against the bottom two.
We can question whether or not Tottenham are value at the prices but we shouldn't dismiss their chances with a sole focus on their own problems.
What are the best bets?
As far as I'm aware, no Tottenham player has emerged during their poor run of form and got stuck into their head coach, the owner or the board.
There's the media training coming to the fore. Stock answers and deflect. Hoffenheim striker Andrej Kramaric? Not quite.
“It was clear from the start that this was going to happen," he stated in a televised interview following the 5-0 thrashing by Bayern.
"This is the picture of the whole season, this is one big shit season, I’m going to be honest.
"I’m still soft because if I want to say the truth and somethings which are on my mind about the club and the current situation, I would probably get the biggest punishment in the history of the Bundesliga."
⚠️Here is Hoffenheim’s Andrej Kramaric and his interview with us on @ESPNFC after their 5-0 defeat at Bayern.
— Archie Rhind-Tutt (@archiert1) January 15, 2025
“This is one big shit season”
“If I want to say the things on my mind about the club, I will probably get the biggest fine in the history of the Bundesliga.” pic.twitter.com/QrYyjWCkbv
In fairness it did work, in the immediate short term anyway, with a 3-1 away win at Holstein Kiel on Saturday.
They were far from defensively solid again there though and that's why Tottenham should be able to find a way through given their own attacking approach.
At a best price of 15/4, and with others floating around the 3s marker, I'm taking DEJAN KULUSEVSKI 1+ ASSISTS.
Kulusevski has only started one of their six games in this competition but Postecoglou needs to go as strong as possible with his side sat outside of the top eight as we head into the latest round of fixtures.
What has been remarkable is the winger's creativity for others in recent weeks - although in fairness it has largely been the case throughout the course of the campaign.
It's hard to believe he only has four assists on his tally. He's created 56 chances across 22 Premier League appearances, 17 of those have been in their last four.
And he faces a Hoffenheim side who have the third-worst defence in the Bundesliga, according to the expected goals (xG) figures. It's slightly better in this competition but they have faced some weaker opponents.
For all of Tottenham's problems, they have still been scoring. They can't afford any further slip-ups in Europe as their entire season now depends upon it.
I'd back them for a successful result here with Kulusevski playing his part.
Team news
Hoffenheim are missing a number of players through injury, with eight first team players currently unavailable for selection.
Erencan Yardimci joined in January so he isn't eligible to feature until the knockout stages.
The same applies for Tottenham goalkeeper Antonín Kinsky meaning Brandon Austin is likely to get his second start of the season.
Spurs' lengthy injury list is well documented already but they have an issue as left-back with Sergio Reguilón and Djed Spence both not named in their Europa League squad.
That could see Ben Davies feature on that side with Archie Gray continuing at centre-back.
Predicted line-ups
Hoffenheim XI: Baumann; Gendrey, Chaves, Akpoguma, Prass; Bischof, Stach; Hlozek, Kramaric, Ntusu; Moerstedt.
Tottenham XI: Austin; Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Davies; Sarr, Bergvall, Maddison; Kulusevski, Richarlison, Son.
Odds correct at 1120 GMT (22/01/25)
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