'I can't remember a game so highly-pressurised'published at 11:51 BST 20 May
11:51 BST 20 May
Media caption,
BBC Radio 5 Live pundit Chris Sutton has questioned the decisions of both Ange Postecoglou and Ruben Amorim to field weakened sides in the build-up to their Europa League final.
Speaking on Monday Night Club, he said: "It's so difficult to call because both teams have made so many changes.
"You want to go into a cup final with momentum don't you? It's just that selection fear, Ange Postecoglou won't play Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, but are they going to be undercooked?
"I understand what both managers are thinking, but it really adds to the occasion.
"I can't remember a game which is so highly-pressurised for both sets of teams."
On Postecoglou, Sutton added: "Tottenham play Brighton in that last game. Just imagine the atmosphere at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium if Tottenham lose (the final). Postecoglou walking out, I suspect he might not be in charge if he loses the final as that will be as toxic as anything."
In Bilbao or travelling? Send us your storiespublished at 11:04 BST 20 May
11:04 BST 20 May
Image source, Getty Images
The countdown to kick-off is getting closer and the nerves are rising. It is nearly time for the Europa League final.
Fans are making their way there way to Bilbao to see if Tottenham can get a first trophy under Ange Postecoglou and secure Champions League football for next season.
But how are your travel plans going?
Are you already in the city or have you still got a few more miles via plane, train, boat or car to go?
Have you got your ticket for the match sorted or will you be watching on while soaking up the local atmosphere?
'Uncle Ange' dares fans to believe published at 08:51 BST 20 May
08:51 BST 20 May
Ali Speechly Fan writer
Image source, Getty Images
Remember Mauricio Pochettino and his lemons?
Whatever your personal feelings are about universal energy or manifesting positivity, Poch somehow got us to a Champions League final, so the lemons clearly worked for him.
As Ange Postecoglou prepares to go one step further and actually win a European trophy with Spurs, he will be encouraging his players to focus on the positives – and I think us fans need to do the same.
Whether you love his approach or can't wait to see him leave, Ange is the man in charge for our date with destiny in Bilbao – and it might be time to admit that I have underestimated the strength of his relationship with the players.
Several of the squad have opened up about the impact Ange has had on the dressing room, most recently Yves Bissouma, who has described his manager as like a dad or uncle to the players.
Unity is integral to successful teams. Despite an abysmal domestic league campaign, the players maintain that it is their manager who has protected them, believed in them, and kept them together on and off the pitch.
Both sets of fans will feel anxious going into this final, but us Spurs fans need to stick together - just like our team.
Manchester United will feel they have history on their side. Well, apparently this is the year of the underdog, of trophyless teams having their names carved on to silverware, of victory against all odds, of dreams coming true.
So, if this is to be one of the last times we see Uncle Ange in charge at Spurs, we should let him inspire us to do more than just dream.
Europa League final: Did you know?published at 08:46 BST 20 May
08:46 BST 20 May
Image source, Getty Images
With Tottenham and Manchester United set to battle it out for Europa League glory, here are some key facts going into the game.
It will be the sixth all-English major European competition final, and the third of those to involve Spurs, after the 1971-72 Uefa Cup final (won 3-2 on aggregate against Wolves) and the 2018-19 Champions League final (lost 2-0 to Liverpool).
Tottenham and United's only previous meeting in major European competition came in the 1963-64 Cup Winners' Cup last 16, with the Red Devils progressing 4-3 on aggregate.
United are winless in their last six meetings with Tottenham (D2 L4), and have lost the past three in a row. The Old Trafford side have never gone seven without victory against Spurs, and have also never lost four successive matches against them.
Tottenham have won the Uefa Cup/Europa League twice (1972 and 1984) and victory on Wednesday would see them become the second English club to win it three times, along with Liverpool. The only side to win the competition on more than three occasions are Sevilla (seven).
This will be Manchester United's ninth major European final, with only Liverpool (15) reaching more among English clubs. However, the Red Devils have failed to win three of their past four.
How important has Spence become to Tottenham?published at 11:19 BST 19 May
11:19 BST 19 May
Nick Mashiter BBC Sport football news reporter
Image source, Getty Images
Before 15 December, Tottenham Hotspur full-back Djed Spence had played just 64 minutes of Premier League football this season. Since, he has completed 90 minutes in 19 of Spurs' 22 league games.
The transformation is stark. At first, Spence was so far down Ange Postecoglou's pecking order that he was not even included in the squad for the Europa League group stage, coming in for the knockout stages.
He has been one of the most compelling individual stories this season – a breakthrough at age 24 that comes comparatively late for a top-flight footballer. Such has been his rise, there was clamour for him to feature in Thomas Tuchel's first England squad last month.
Spence missed out with Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly instead called up as the debutant left-back, despite the Spurs man making more Premier League tackles, interceptions, clearances, blocks and defensive headers this campaign.
With his mix of physicality, athleticism, defensive ability and attacking skill, aligned with his right-footedness, the man who was a few months ago a Spurs outcast now seems well adapted to the demands of being a Premier League left-back or left wing-back.
Middlesbrough sporting director Kieran Scott spoke to BBC Sport about Spence's physical prowess.
"His athleticism is so natural, he can play in the Premier League just purely down to what he's born with and he can play football, he's got ability," says Scott.
"I'm not shocked to see him playing ability-wise, it was just more down to application. He's got it right and it's working well and he's got to stay at that level.
"I always thought he had the ability to play in the Premier League. Not many players can run as fast as him for as long as him and just can keep doing it.
Aston Villa 2-0 Tottenham - the fans' verdictpublished at 11:55 BST 17 May
11:55 BST 17 May
Image source, Getty Images
We asked for your thoughts after Friday's Premier League game between Aston Villa and Tottenham.
Here are some of your comments:
Villa fans
Rob: A thoroughly professional display. The Villa of old would have panicked at being 0-0 at half-time and we would've lost it 1-0 at the death. But that's not this Unai Emery team. They controlled the second half and took our chances without breaking a sweat. Bring on Man Utd.
Simon: Obviously so pleased for the three points, but seeing Martinez go off in tears has me worried that we've seen the last of him. Whatever happens, he will always be a Villa legend. On to Old Trafford for, hopefully, a rare victory there.
Ian: A nervy first half, but Spurs' only threat was on the break. It was a well deserved win in the second half and very comfortable. Spurs never really threatened our goal. Just one more win now and I think we will get that Champions League spot. In Unai we trust. Keep the faith, UTV.
Paul: A stroll in the end. Emery deserves credit for taking a failing team and turning them into a team that has qualified for Europe three years in a row, but there still needs to be consistency so we don't have meltdowns like Olympiakos or Wembley this season. We've finished the season like a train but the dropped points back in the winter may well cost us. On our day, we go toe-to-toe with the best and hurt them, so a Spurs team not wanting to get injured before a final was pretty easy to predict.
Spurs fans
Andy: I know it was almost a nothing game for us, given our final on Wednesday, but it still feels like something is fundamentally wrong in the changing room. Getting to the Champions League could be the worst thing to happen to us. With the extra games and these performances, we will be relegated next season.
Roger: Yet another shambolic, totally disorganised, lacklustre performance. Even allowing for missing and out-of-form players, the performances this season have clearly demonstrated that the current management and coaching is nowhere near what is required in the Premier League. Even a win next week or buying new players won't change that. The club needs to act quickly and make wholesale changes before pre-season or we will get relegated next year.
Meesh: It's been the same all season - we look lost. I was gritting my teeth in vain thinking we may actually win this. And yet more injuries!
Norman: Oh dear. The first half really gave me hope and I can see positives for next season with our great young players (if we can keep them). The second half was dreadful and I cannot wait for the end of the season and an end to this manager. A dreadful season, irrespective of what happens in the Europa League final.
Did you know?
Since the start of March, Aston Villa have won 24 points in the Premier League from their nine games (W8 L1), more than any other side in that period (Newcastle next on 22 points).
Tottenham have now lost 25 games in all competitions this season, their joint-highest number of defeats in a single campaign in their history along with 1991-92 (25).
Ollie Watkins has been directly involved in 109 Premier League goals for Aston Villa (75 goals, 34 assists), the outright most of any player for the club (one more than Gabriel Agbonlahor).
'The game just got away from us'published at 10:24 BST 17 May
10:24 BST 17 May
Image source, Getty Images
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to Sky Sports following the defeat at Villa Park: "Pape [Matar Sarr] felt something in his back so we took him off as a precaution. It's nothing too significant. Mikey [Moore] was OK, he was just fatigued.
"Son Heung-min is ready and available [for the Europa League final]. They all are ready to start. It was important for him to play in this game, he feels like he is getting back to some rhythm.
"I thought that up until Aston Villa scored, the boys worked hard. They were really disciplined and organised. We didn't really let them create too many openings.
"We had our moments going forward as well but, once they scored, we lost a little bit of belief. A lot of those guys haven't played a lot, we looked like we were fatiguing and then the game just got away from us."
Sutton's predictions: Aston Villa v Tottenhampublished at 08:54 BST 16 May
08:54 BST 16 May
Let's face it, everyone on the planet thinks Aston Villa will win this - the same way everyone will expect Chelsea to beat Manchester United in Friday's other game.
The way both Tottenham and United are approaching next week's Europa League final, they are just gripped with fear. It has become like a World Cup final for both clubs.
Both managers will make lots of changes for their matches on Friday, because they are so afraid of injuries to key players but I just don't think that is the way to approach Wednesday's game in Bilbao.
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou does not want anyone to get injured but the flip side to leaving key people out is that you want to go into a big game with a bit of momentum, and Tottenham do not have any.
I put myself in a position of a Spurs player, and if I am Micky van de Ven or Cristian Romero, I would want to play against Villa and I would want to take that risk.
But what Postecoglou is scared of, naturally, is if something happens to one of them, because then he would be asked 'why on earth did you do that?'
So, we know what he will do and, because of that, you can't make a case for Tottenham beating Villa, or getting anything at all from this game.
On the face of it, things have turned out pretty well for Villa haven't they? Last summer they would have looked at their last two games of the season - Spurs at home on Friday and United away next weekend - and thought that is very tough.
Now, though, they must be rubbing their hands. They are fighting for a top-five finish and they finish up with two games against teams whose focus this week is completely on an all together different prize.
Postecoglou on Son, losing Kulusevski and players staking their claimpublished at 13:56 BST 15 May
13:56 BST 15 May
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to the media before Friday's Premier League game against Aston Villa (kick-off 19:40 BST).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
Son Heung-min will "definitely" play against Villa but Postecoglou does not know whether he will start or be on the bench.
He said losing Dejan Kulusevski is "disappointing news" before the Europa League final and confirmed he will be sidelined "at least a few months."
Midfielder Lucas Bergvall is out of his boot and has taken his "first tentative steps on the grass" but it "will likely be a while" before he is available again.
On having no luck with injuries: "It's just reflective and consistent with everything else that has happened this season. We just haven't had a smooth run of things. Every time we look like we are getting to a place where we are looking in decent shape squad-wise, invariably we have been hit."
He said the injuries are in "one area of the park" as Kulusevski followed a season-ending injury for playmaker James Maddison.
Despite having one eye on the Europa League final, he said he will "put out a team that hopefully gets the job done" at Villa Park and "go out there to try to win the game."
On using the game for players to prove themselves for the final: "It's an opportunity for them to put their name forward for the big game the following week because, as we have already seen in the past couple of weeks, as much as you would like to think there is an ideal starting line-up things happen and players have to be ready for that."
