Wolfsberg v Tottenham: UEFA Europa League background, form guide, previous meetings

Wolfsberg's first ever European knockout phase encounter brings them up against English heavyweights Tottenham Hotspur, who have already faced Austrian opposition in this season's UEFA Europa League, at the Puskás Arena in Budapest.

• Wolfsberg finished second in Group K during the autumn, losing twice to section winners Dinamo Zagreb but taking ten points off former UEFA Cup winners Feyenoord and CSKA Moskva. Spurs beat Antwerp 2-0 at home on Matchday 6 to top Group J with 13 points, one more than the Belgian side and three more than third-placed LASK, Wolfsberg's domestic rivals.

Previous meetings
• This is Wolfsberg's first UEFA encounter against a team from England.

• Following their two group games against LASK, a 3-0 win in London and a 3-3 draw in Linz, Tottenham are now unbeaten in six UEFA matches against Austrian opponents (W4 D2).

Form guide

Wolfsberg
• Promoted to the Austrian top flight for the first time in 2012, Wolfsberg finished third in the 2019/20 Bundesliga, repeating their highest ever placing of a year earlier, to re-qualify for the UEFA Europa League for the second successive season. Last term they finished bottom of their section with five points.

• This is only the club's third European campaign, and the first that has extended into the knockout phase. Despite losing both fixtures against Dinamo (0-1 a, 0-3 h), Ferdinand Feldhofer's side qualified from Group K thanks to a famous double over Feyenoord (4-1 a, 1-0 h) and a home draw (1-1) and away win (1-0) against CSKA.

• The Matchday 6 success against Feyenoord in Klagenfurt that confirmed Wolfsberg's place in the round of 32 was the Austrian club's first home win in the UEFA Europa League group stage at the sixth attempt (D2 L3).

• This is Wolfsberg's first UEFA game in Hungary.

Tottenham
• Tottenham finished outside the top four of the Premier League for the first time in five seasons in 2019/20, their final position of sixth ending a four-season run in the UEFA Champions League that had taken them into the final in 2018/19 and to the round of 16 last season, where they were eliminated by Leipzig (0-1 h, 0-3 a).

• Spurs' 2020/21 European campaign began at an earlier stage than in any previous season, but José Mourinho's side came through qualifying ties away to Lokomotiv Plovdiv (2-1) and Shkëndija (3-1) before beating Maccabi Haifa 7-2 at home in the play-offs. In Group J they recovered from a shock 1-0 defeat in Antwerp on Matchday 2, beating bottom-placed Ludogorets twice (3-1 a, 4-0 h) then drawing at LASK to ensure further progress before leapfrogging the Belgian side to the top of the standings with that Matchday 6 win in London.

• This is Tottenham's sixth appearance in the UEFA Europa League round of 32. They have won three of their five previous ties at this stage of the competition, losing the most recent, against Gent in 2016/17, when, having crossed over from the UEFA Champions League, they followed up a 1-0 defeat in Belgium with a 2-2 draw at Wembley. The two-time UEFA Cup winners' most successful UEFA Europa League campaign was in 2012/13, when they reached the quarter-finals.

• Tottenham have never won an away leg in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase (D4 L5), their record in the round of 32 standing at D2 L3.

• Spurs have never previously played a UEFA match in Hungary.

UEFA Europa League squad changes

• Wolfsberg
 In: Gustav Henriksson (Elfsborg), Thorsten Röcher (Ingolstadt)
 Out: Marc Andre Schmerböck (Hartberg), Marko Soldo

• Tottenham
 In: Marcel Lavinier
 Out: Cameron Carter-Vickers (Bournemouth, loan), Jack Clarke (Stoke, loan)

Links and trivia

• Tottenham's Gareth Bale, who scored a penalty in the 3-3 draw at LASK in the group stage, has played three times against Austria for Wales, scoring in the first, a 2-1 friendly win in Swansea on 6 February 2013.

• Son Heung-min was on target in both of Spurs' group games against LASK.

• Spurs manager Mourinho's only experience of the UEFA Europa League prior to this season was in 2016/17, when his Manchester United side lifted the trophy. His one season managing in the UEFA Cup also ended in glory as he steered Porto to victory in 2002/03.

• Tottenham's sixth appearance in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase is a record for an English club. They became the first Premier League side to chalk up 50 matches in the competition proper on Matchday 2.

• Spurs are one of six former UEFA Cup winners in this season's round of 32 – along with Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Napoli, PSV Eindhoven and Shakhtar Donetsk. Manchester United (2016/17) are the only club in the field to have won the UEFA Europa League.

• Wolfsberg are one of five clubs making their first appearance in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase this season, along with Antwerp, Granada, Hoffenheim and Leicester City.