Tottenham v Anderlecht background

Tottenham Hotspur FC will look to return to the top two in UEFA Europa League Group J by securing a first win in normal time in their fifth meeting with RSC Anderlecht.

Previous meetings
• Stefano Okaka's goal completed the turnaround as Anderlecht recovered from 1-0 down to defeat Spurs 2-1 on 22 October.

• The clubs first met in the 1984 UEFA Cup final, Keith Burkinshaw's Spurs beating Paul Van Himst's Anderlecht 4-3 on penalties at White Hart Lane after a pair of 1-1 draws.

• The sides for the London leg of that final on 23 May 1984 were:
Tottenham: Parks, Thomas, Hughton, Roberts, Miller (Dick 77), Mabbutt (Ardiles 73), Hazard, Archibald, Falco, Stevens, Galvin.
Anderlecht: Munaron, Hofkens, Grün, De Greef, Olsen, De Groote, Arnesen (Gudjohnsen 77), Vandereycken, Scifo, Czerniatynski (Brylle 103), Vercauteren.

• More recently, the teams drew 1-1 for a third time in a 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage fixture in Brussels. Ariël Jacobs was in charge of Anderlecht while Juande Ramos was Spurs boss.

• The lineups for that game on 6 December 2007 were:
Anderlecht: Zítka, Wasilewski, Juhász, Van Damme, Deschacht, Hassan, Biglia, Polák, Goor, Mpenza (Baseggio 72), Frutos (Théréau 55).
Tottenham: Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, Zokora, Young-Pyo (Stalteri 81), Lennon, Jenas, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Keane (Berbatov 59), Bent (Defoe 72).

• Spurs' seven games against Belgian sides have ended W2 D3 L2 (W2 D1 L0 at home).

• Anderlecht's 31 games against English clubs have ended W7 D5 L19; they have yet to win in 14 games in England: W0 D2 L12.

Form guide
• Spurs are unbeaten in six European home fixtures (W4 D2) since a 3-1 loss to SL Benfica in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League round of 16.

• Anderlecht are without an away win in 12 European trips (D6 L6) since a 6-0 defeat of FK Ekranas in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

• In seven previous UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League campaigns, Tottenham have failed to reach the round of 32 just once – in 2011/12.

• Anderlecht advanced to the round of 32 in all four of their previous UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns, most recently in 2011/12.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Brussels to London is around 320km.

• Spurs have plenty of Belgian players: defenders Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, and midfielders Mousa Dembélé and Nacer Chadli.

• Anderlecht's Anthony Vanden Borre and Okaka were on loan at Portsmouth FC and Fulham FC respectively in 2009/10.

The coaches
• Mauricio Pochettino has been manager of Tottenham since summer 2014, the former RCD Espanyol and Paris Saint-Germain defender brought to London after an impressive 18 months at Southampton FC. He was capped 20 times by Argentina, featuring at the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals.

• Previously assistant coach, former Albanian international Besnik Hasi assumed sole command at Anderlecht in 2014. Hasi's playing career took off after he moved to Belgium in 1994, the midfielder winning a title with KRC Genk and another with Anderlecht, where he returned after hanging up his boots at Cercle Brugge KSV.