Tottenham require a win in Switzerland to advance to the Europa League semifinals. Paris Saint-Germain suffered (yes, suffered) a 2-2 house draw in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal and while they did well to draw in the second leg, it was 1-1 and they went on away targets. Albeit a step down in events to the Europa League, Tottenham Hotspur see them in the same situation -- tied 2-2 on aggregate heading to the 2nd leg away. Fortunately for Spurs, though, they are maybe not playing Barcelona. Alternatively, Tottenham will perform Basel, against whom profitable away is really a easier task. But Basel remain a fantastic team who've lately taken scalps from Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Sporting Lisbon in European competition. Oh, and then there is last week when Basel did not just get a result at White Hart Lane, they outplayed Spurs for exercises. That was a Spurs group with Gareth Bale and, for a short while, Aaron Lennon, also. Neither of the two will soon be offered to Andre Villas-Boas on Thursday, joining Jermain Defoe on the bench for a fit in which Spurs need a purpose, and probably two contemplating how out of sorts their security looked against Basel a week ago. Without the group of attackers, all eyes are likely to be on Emmanuel Adebayor and Gylfi Sigurdsson. Both have observed their sort break up of late and will soon be expected to transport the almost all the attacking weight. Nonetheless it is Lewis Holtby an Clint Dempsey who might most need certainly to shine for Spurs and transformation what has been an underwhelming start to 2013 with 90 sterling minutes in Basel. But regardless of the uphill climb, Tottenham remain confident. After all, a win and Spurs are right through to the semifinals, absent goals be damned. "You can never tell what's likely to happen in baseball but, mostly, you get what you deserve," Michael Dawson said. "So it is down seriously to us and we are in a great position to go through, despite what some individuals think." It helps that Basel are not Barcelona, also.
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