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Exciting news, everybody! The Europa League is back! Tottenham have one of the juicier match ups in the Europa League Round of 32, taking on Fiorentina at White Hart Lane this evening. There's a lot of excitement surrounding this match up: both are clubs that are in form at the moment and challenging for Champions League places, and both did well in the earlier rounds of the competition.
There are some good questions to ponder going into tonight's match: how will Spurs face against a pretty solid Serie A club? How will Harry Kane cope with a solid Italian defense? What sort of squad will we see tonight with so many important upcoming matches? Can we really allow another club to look good playing football while wearing purple?
Only one way to find out. TO THE FOOTBALL. Hopefully we don't have to push the Mario Gomez button too often today.
Lineups:
#THFC team: Lloris (c), Walker, Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies; Bentaleb, Paulinho; Chadli, Eriksen, Townsend; Soldado #COYS
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 19, 2015
#THFC subs: Vorm, Dier, Rose, Dembele, Lamela, Mason, Kane #COYS
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 19, 2015
FIORENTINA (3-5-2) Tătărusanu; Savić, Gonzalo, Basanta; Joaquín, Mati, Pizarro, Borja Valero, Pasqual; Salah, Gomez
— Viola Nation (@Viola_Nation) February 19, 2015
ROTATED SIDE KLAXON. Harry Kane is benched for this one which is either genius or idiocy, I'm not sure which. Townsend also gets a start over Chadli and Lamela. Fazio pairs with Vertonghen in the back line, which is probably fine. Paulinho in the pivot with Bentaleb is, well, something all right.
Meanwhile, Fiorentina starts Salah and Gomez and I suddenly have all the feels.
How to Watch
Match Date: Thursday, February 19
Time: 8:05 p.m. GMT (3:05 p.m. ET)
Location: White Hart Lane, London, England
TV/Streaming: For American viewers, the match will be televised on Fox Soccer Plus and streamed on Fox Soccer 2GO. FS2GO is a subscription service, so you'll need to have an account to stream, but I understand they're offering a free 7-day trial, so. Fans in the UK can find it on BT Sport 2. If you're tuning in from the Great White North (that's Canada, not Finland), it's on Sportsnet 1. Aussies Aussies Aussies can watch on beIN SPORTS CONNECT Australia. Others can find their local channels here.
Radio: BBC Radio London 94.9 will broadcast the match (unavailable in the USA without a proxy), or if you are a (free) MySpurs or OneHotspur member you can listen on Spurs' official website.
Match thread rules:
The match thread rules are the same always. To any visitors coming here for the first time, welcome! We're glad you're here! Wipe your feet, mind the gap, and be sure to check out the other pages at this outstanding site. While you're here, though, we have a few rules and regulations.
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