Former French champions Olympique Lyon welcome Tottenham to the Stade Gerland on Thursday evening, with work to do to progress to the next round of the UEFA Europa League. The French trail 1-2 after the first leg in north London last week, thanks to a brilliant brace from Gareth Bale.

Spurs will progress with a draw, scored or otherwise. Lyon, however, need at least one goal and cannot afford to give the Premier League club any chance to score one of their own.

The winner of the tie will meet either Serie A side Inter Milan or Romanians CFR Cluj. The two sides meet in Romania for the second leg, with the Italians leading 2-0.

Bafetimbi Gomis (R)
Reuters

Where to Watch Live

Kick-off is set for 6pm GMT. Live coverage starts a half-hour earlier on ITV 4.

Overview

Lyon put the defeat in the first leg emphatically behind them over the weekend, hammering Girondins Bordeaux 4-0 away from home. The seven-time Ligue 1 champions retained a two-point lead over rivals Marseille, in the race for second place in the table. Ligue 1 leaders are Paris St Germain, who sit three and five points clear respectively.

RémiGarde's men qualified for the Europa League's knock-out stages after a dominant performance in the group stages. They were drawn alongside Czechs Sparta Praha, last season's finalists Athletic Bilbao of Spain and Israeli club Hapoel Kiryat Shmona. The French won five of the six games, drew the sixth and scored 14 goals in the process.

They were on course to a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane, with Samuel Umtiti cancelling out Bale's first goal. However, a superb second free kick from the Welsh international means the pressure is squarely on the hosts going into this game.

Domestically, Lyon have been strong at home, with eight wins from 12 matches. They've scored 24 times but have conceded 11 goals, which will worry Garde. Their form on European home nights is marginally better, defensively speaking. Lyon won all three group games, scoring six times and conceding only twice.

Gareth Bale (R)
Reuters

Expect the hosts to attack from the outset in this game. They need the goals. However, that should play into Andre Villas-Boas' hands... with the pace of Bale and Aaron Lennon down the flanks, Lyon will need to find a balance between committing men forward and being responsible at the back.

Meanwhile, Tottenham come to France with a full week's rest behind them. Spurs' elimination from the FA Cup (the 2-1 defeat to Leeds in January) gave them a rare extended break and fans will hope for a very energetic performance in this second leg.

In the Premier League, Spurs continue to occupy fourth place... the final qualifying position for next season's Champions League. AVB's men are four points clear of north London rivals Arsenal in fifth. The truly tantalising prospect, after the Gunners' humiliating defeat to Germans Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League knock-out tie on Tuesday, is that the north London clubs face off at the Lane on 3 March.

Tottenham qualified from Group J, with two wins and four draws from their six games. The English club were particularly poor on the road - three draws and two goals scored. AVB will not be particularly worried though. A draw will be more than enough to progress to the Round of 16.

Expect Spurs to sit back and wait for Lyon to do all the running. They can afford to conserve energy and wait for the chance to break... and when the chance comes, expect Bale to be the man leading the charge.

Team Form

Olympique Lyon

  • Last Five (all competitions, most recent first): W L L L W
  • Last Match: Bordeaux 0 - 4 Lyon
Tottenham Hotspur
Reuters

Tottenham Hotspur

  • Last Five (all competitions, most recent first): W W W D L
  • Last Match: Tottenham 2 - 1 Lyon

Team News

Lyon have no major injury concerns going into this game. Garde made only one change to the side that lost to Spurs last midweek, for the weekend game against Bordeaux - former Fulham midfielder Steed Malbranque dropped out for Clement Grenier. The emphatic nature of the response should mean Lyon line up with pretty much the same starting 11.

The one point is that neither Yoann Gourcuff nor Jimmy Briand will be fit to play. Gourcuff, 26, a former AC Milan playmaker has not been in the best of form this season, with only one goal in 10 Ligue 1 starts but on his day he remains a top player and Lyon could have done with his presence.

Probable Line-Up: Vercoutre; Reveillere, Bisevac, Gonalons, Umtiti; Lovren, Fofana, Grenier, Lacazette; Lopez, Gomis

AVB will be without England striker Jermaine Defoe (ankle), which means Togo forward Emmanuel Adebayor will definitely start, despite his poor form. Defoe's England team mate, Tom Huddlestone (knee) is a doubt and may not even be on the bench for this match, given the club already missing a key central midfielder in Sandro (knee).

The manager will not want to risk the 26-year-old Huddlestone with a Champions League charge to consider. France defender Younes Kaboul (knee) is another unlikely to take any part in this game. Expect Tottenham to name an unchanged side to the one that beat Lyon last week.

Probable Line-Up: Friedel; Vertonghen, Gallas, Walker, Assou-Ekotto; Dempsey, Lennon, Parker, Bale; Dembele; Adebayor

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