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

Tottenham Hotspur are well placed to reach the UEFA Europa League round of 16 for the fourth time as they host knockout phase first-timers Wolfsberg protecting a 4-1 first-leg lead.

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

Previous meetings
• The first leg, which brought Wolfsberg up against a team from England for the first time in UEFA competition, took place at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, where goals from Heung-Min Son, Gareth Bale, Lucas Moura and, late on, substitute Carlos Vinícius secured a comprehensive Tottenham win in which Michael Liendl's fifth goal of the competition – and fourth from the penalty spot – provided scant consolation.

• Including their two group games against LASK, a 3-0 win in London and a 3-3 draw in Linz, Tottenham are now unbeaten in seven UEFA matches against Austrian opponents (W5 D2). They have won the three previous home games, all without conceding a goal.

Form guide
 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 lost three of their ten European games at their new stadium, including a record 7-2 defeat by Bayern München last season, but have won all four there this term, scoring 16 goals. In the UEFA Europa League knockout phase their home record is W4 D3 L2, with only one win in the last five matches (D2 L2).

• Spurs have won all of the previous 22 UEFA competition ties in which they were victorious on the road in the first leg, most famously in the inaugural UEFA Cup final of 1971/72 when they were 2-1 winners at Wolverhampton Wanderers before drawing the return 1-1 at White Hart Lane. They have never previously won the first away leg 4-1.

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.

• Wolfsberg have won half of their away matches in UEFA competition (W4 D1 L3).

• The only previous instance of Wolfsberg losing the first leg at home in a European tie came in the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round when a 0-1 defeat by Borussia Dortmund in Austria was followed by a 5-0 loss in Germany.

UEFA Europa League squad changes
• Tottenham
 In: Marcel Lavinier
 Out: Cameron Carter-Vickers (Bournemouth, loan), Jack Clarke (Stoke, loan)

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

Links and trivia
• First-leg scorer Bale, who also converted 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 has scored in all three of Spurs' games against Austrian opposition this season.

• 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.

• Tottenham have now scored 97 goals in the UEFA Europa League proper – the same number as Arsenal – and have the opportunity to become the first English club to reach a century.

• Wolfsberg midfielder Christopher Wernitznig celebrates his 31st birthday on the day of the game.

• 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.

Penalty shoot-outs
 • Tottenham's record in three UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L2:
4-3 v Anderlecht, 1983/84 UEFA Cup final
5-6 v PSV Eindhoven, 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 16
1-4 v Basel, 2012/13 UEFA Europa League quarter-final

• Wolfsberg have yet to feature in a UEFA penalty shoot-out.