Tottenham v Monaco background
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Article summary
Tottenham's only remaining target is to confirm top spot in Group J as they welcome a Monaco side who are in need of a second successive victory in north London.
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Tottenham Hotspur FC have confirmed their place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32, but can expect a busy matchday six with AS Monaco FC fighting for Group J survival.
• Tottenham are through but still need a point to be certain of finishing top since they are level on head-to-head with RSC Anderlecht.
• To get through, Monaco must win and hope Anderlecht do not.
Previous meetings
• Monaco struck back to draw 1-1 on matchday two in the sides' first UEFA competition meeting.
• Claudio Ranieri's Monaco beat a Tottenham team led by André Villas-Boas 5-2 in a pre-season friendly in August 2013. Andrea Raggi, Lucas Ocampos, Radamel Falcao (2) and Mounir Obbadi were the Monaco scorers, Harry Kane and Andros Townsend on target for the visitors.
• Tottenham's record in seven matches against French opposition is W3 D3 L1 (W3 D0 L0 at home). All those home victories were by one-goal margins.
• Monaco's record in 13 games against English clubs is W6 D4 L3 (W3 D2 L1 in England). They eliminated Spurs' north London rivals Arsenal FC from last season's UEFA Champions League round of 16, winning 3-1 in London and proceeding on away goals despite a 2-0 home defeat.
Form guide
• Tottenham have won both of their European home matches this term, and are unbeaten in seven UEFA fixtures at White Hart Lane (W5 D2) since a 3-1 loss to SL Benfica in March 2014.
• Monaco have drawn both of their Group J away games 1-1.
• Spurs have now made it through seven of their eight UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns – missing the cut in 2011/12.
• Monaco were successful in their only previous UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League group campaign, progressing to the round of 32 in 2005/06.
Trivia and links
• The journey from Monaco to London is just over 1,000km.
• Monaco's Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea FC, 2004–10) and Marcos Lopes (Manchester City FC, 2013–15) have played in England. Midfielder Mario Pašalić is on loan from Chelsea.
• Spurs' French international goalkeeper Hugo Lloris knows Monaco well from his time with OGC Nice and Olympique Lyonnais. Their Algerian midfielder Nabil Bentaleb was also born in France.
• Young Tottenham forward Clinton Njié began his career in France with Lyon.
• The two clubs have some notable former players in common: Glenn Hoddle, Dimitar Berbatov, Jürgen Klinsmann and Emmanuel Adebayor.
The coaches
• Mauricio Pochettino has been manager of Tottenham since 2014, the former RCD Espanyol and Paris Saint-Germain defender brought to London after an impressive 18 months at Southampton FC. The 43-year-old was capped 20 times by Argentina, featuring at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
• Venezuela-born Leonardo Jardim, 41, has been Monaco boss since 2014. A coach from his mid-20s onwards, he managed SC Beira-Mar and SC Braga in the Portuguese top flight, then tried his luck in Greece with Olympiacos FC before earning a second-placed Liga finish with a young Sporting Clube de Portugal side in 2013/14.