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IT'S TIME! Finally, the new season is here and Tottenham Hotspur are going to play their first competitive match! We've got a potentially tough one this afternoon away to Heart of Midlothian in the UEFA Europa League. Despite all of the piss taking yesterday, Hearts are a competitive side and have every chance of getting a result at home, especially with all of our injuries. Let's hope that the boys do enough today to be heavy favorites to advance in the return leg at White Heart Lane. This is your live match thread, and here are the lineups.
Tottenham Hotspur lineup (4-4-1-1): Gomes; Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Livermore, Kranjcar, Bale; Van der Vaart; Defoe
Substitutes from: Friedel, Cudicini, Bassong, Corluka, Huddlestone, Townsend, Pavlyuchenko
Heart of Midlothian lineup (4-1-4-1): Kello; Hamill, Zaliukas, Webster, Grainger; Mrowiec; Templeton, Black, Stevenson, Driver; Sutton
Substitutes from: MacDonald, McGowan, Obua, Skacel, Novikovas, Elliott, Jonsson
A bit negative from our opponents, no? Hearts have played 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 in their league games, but their lineup looks like 4-1-4-1. It could end up being a 4-3-3, but I doubt it. Mrowiec is definitely a DM while the other two central midfielders are not guys who regularly play high up the pitch, to my knowledge. Spurs do what we expected, playing Niko at CM, but I'm surprised to see Defoe as a lone striker. Because of our injuries, we have two keepers on the bench.
Kickoff is at 2:45 pm ET, 7:45 pm BST. The game is on Setanta Sports Ireland and Supersport in South Africa, but there is no British or American TV from what I can tell. Because this game does not appear to be on legally in the UK or US, you are not cheating someone out of their money by watching an illegal stream, so you are allowed to post links in the gamethead today. Happy posting, and COYS!