Tottenham Facing Fitness Problems With Likely Europa League Starters Out

Because of some wonderful odd scheduling, there are UEFA Europa League games on Wednesday and Thursday this week. One such game is the clash between Tottenham Hotspur and PAOK Salonika. Once again, we should be resting most of our first team players. However, there are a couple of catches. One, we really need three points out of this game. Two, some of our best "Europa League players" are injured.

Both Roman Pavlyuchenko and Giovani dos Santos are unlikely to start because of fitness concerns. Obviously we make fun of these guys a lot for not playing particularly well, but let's be honest. Harry Kane and Andros Townsend aren't actually better than these guys right now. If Pav sucks for 89 minutes and scores a great goal, he's probably more productive than Hurricane.

Niko Kranjcar, Danny Rose, Michael Dawson and Tom Huddlestone remain out with long-term injuries. I presume that we will see Jake Livermore, Jermain Defoe, William Gallas and some kids. Beyond that? It's anyone's guess.