Galatasaray vs Tottenham Prediction

Can Ange Postecoglou’s side make it four wins in as many games in the UEFA Europa League? We look ahead to Thursday’s clash with our Galatasaray vs Tottenham preview.

Galatasaray vs Tottenham: The Key Insights

• Tottenham edged the Opta supercomputer’s pre-match predictions, winning 42.8% of simulations.
• Galatasaray have won just one of their last six meetings with English sides (D2 L3).
• Spurs have spent 69.3% of their Europa League match time in a leading position across 2024-25 so far.

Ange Postecoglou will hope to continue Tottenham’s growing momentum when they travel to Galatasaray in the Europa League on Thursday.

Spurs responded to a disappointing 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace with back-to-back victories, beating Manchester City in the EFL Cup fourth round and Aston Villa in the Premier League.

Dominic Solanke scored twice in Sunday’s 4-1 drubbing of Villa, with in-form Brennan Johnson and James Maddison also on target as Spurs bounced back after falling a goal behind in the first half.

Postecoglou’s team now turn their attention back to the Europa League, where they have managed three victories in as many games. They edged past AZ Alkmaar 1-0 in their last outing in the competition thanks to Richarlison’s penalty.

The Brazilian striker is in doubt for this clash in Turkey, however, with his thigh injury being assessed. The same goes for Cristian Romero after he was forced off with a knock against Villa.

Djed Spence, Micky van de Ven, and Wilson Odobert are out for longer periods, though Postecoglou should be confident in getting a result with whatever selection of players he has available.

Indeed, Tottenham have been in a leading position for 69.3% of Europa League minutes in matches this season – only league-phase leaders Lazio have been ahead for a higher percentage of time within their games (80%).

That success has come in typical Postecoglou style, too, with Spurs’ possession-based focus seeing them make 94% of their passes short in the competition this campaign. That is the highest percentage of any team in UEFA’s secondary club tournament.

Hosts Galatasaray have been easy on the eye as well. They have had the most shots (64), shots on target (27), boast the highest expected goal tally (8.1) and have scored the joint-most goals (9) of any side in the Europa League this season.

Okan Buruk’s side lead the Turkish Süper Lig after 10 games following their 2-1 win over fierce rivals Besiktas last Monday. Former Spurs defender Davinson Sánchez and Victor Osimhen were both on target.

That triumph made it four straight wins in all competitions for Galatasaray, who overcame Elfsborg in their last Europa League outing. Mauro Icardi, Baris Alper Yilmaz and Yunus Akgün found the net in a 4-3 victory over the Swedish side.

Buruk’s team are unbeaten in 11 games in total and could leapfrog their Premier League visitors with a win on Thursday, currently sitting fifth with seven points from three matches of the league phase.

The only confirmed absentee for Galatasaray is Ismail Jakobs, who remains sidelined with a knee injury, though Osimhen has been absent from training recently as a precaution.

Galatasaray vs Tottenham Head-to-Head

The revamped Europa League format continues to throw up new challenges aplenty, with this set to be the first meeting between these two sides.

Galatasaray have won just one of six meetings with English sides (D2 L3), however, suggesting Postecoglou’s men may fancy their chances on Thursday.

Spurs have only played Turkish sides three times, too, with all of those meetings coming against Besiktas and ending in three different results (W1 D1 L1).

Their most recent clash with Galatasaray’s rivals ended in a 1-0 loss away to Besiktas in the 2014-15 Europa League.

Galatasaray vs Tottenham Prediction

The Opta supercomputer slightly favoured the away side for this clash – Spurs triumphed in 42.8% of 10,000 pre-match simulations.

There is still significant hope for the home side, however, with Galatasaray triumphing in 31.9% of sims. The draw was ranked at 25.3%.

Galatasaray vs Tottenham Predicted Lineups

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off on Thursday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

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