Tottenham’s Europa League hopes take a hit as key player ruled out

Pochettino has a wealth of attacking talent at his disposal, and Nacer Chadli has shown he can be a good back-up for star striker Harry Kane, who will probably miss out.

Tello said, “It is a very complicated match, like the first leg. If we manage to score a goal, then we’ll have a very good chance of progress”. He is a very nice guy and a very good person but is very competitive on the pitch.

“That showed his character and he improved his behaviour on the pitch”.

Pundit Charlie Nicholas has told Sky Sports that he thinks Mauricio Pochettino’s recent line-ups have been “strange”, but is backing Tottenham to beat Fiorentina 2-0.

Sousa added: ‘We need to play with a high level of physical and mental intensity and we need to play our game.

Memphis Depay, mentioned in this column last week when Sevilla made us a small profit, did the business in the first leg and could be one to keep an eye on in the scorer markets, and not just for this specific game. We need to do our job and show we are better than them.

“I think tomorrow will be a similar game”.

The Spurs manager revealed that the 22-year-old was forced to undergo surgery on the issue on Wednesday ahead of Thursday night’s game against Fiorentina. Now it’s another competition – we want to go to the next round. In all likelihood, he’ll play with a protective mask, especially with Spurs fighting for the title, sitting just two points behind league-leaders Leicester. On medical advice, it is impossible [for him] to play against Fiorentina.

Pochettino preferred not to speculate about the impact of the Europa League on his side’s domestic form. Sometimes a win won’t help in the future, it can change something.

Sousa’s compatriot Jose Mourinho is out of work after being sacked by Chelsea in December, but the Portuguese has been linked with a return to Inter Milan, and is the favourite to succeed under-pressure Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal. “We can not guess about the future”.