Report reveals potential Spurs fixture headache hinges on Conference League outcome
A report from Football.London has revealed that Tottenham could face an unwanted fixture headache in the near future if they finish their Europa Conference League group as runners-up.
Spurs, after their fiercely competitive 3-2 win over Vitesse Arnhem, sit in second in Group G just one point ahead of the Dutch outfit and three points off leaders Rennes.
With two fixtures left in the group stage, Spurs are still battling to knock the French side off the summit before they meet each other in the final game of the group in N17 on December 9.
However, the Europa Conference League has a quirk when it comes to teams advancing into the knockout stages.
Unlike in the Champions League and Europa League where the top two sides in the group progress to the knockout phase, only the group winners receive a straight pass into the next round.
Teams in second-place are required to enter an extra knockout round with the other group runners-up, as well as the eight third-place teams dropping down from the Europa League.
As things stand, Spurs are set to participate in the play-off to reach the knockout round, which could hand them two additional fixtures in February between tricky away matches against Manchester City and Leeds United.
Both legs of the play-off round are set to take place on February 17 and 24, which would give Spurs – should they finish second – a handful of days to prepare for the aforementioned trips in the Premier League on those respective weekends.
Spurs Web Opinion
Spurs ideally want to avoid these extra two games with rest days being so important at that stage of the season. But with two games left including a match against leaders Rennes, it is very much doable for Spurs to dodge the play-off.
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