30.11. (Wed) 21:05 Tottenham Hot. - PAOK

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PROBABLE LINEUPS

TOTTENHAM Gomes Walker, Sandro, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto Lennon, Livermore, Modric, Dos Santos Defoe, Pavlyuchenko

PAOK Kresic Etto, Contreras, Malezas, Lino Arias, Garcia, Fotakis Salpingidis, Athanasiadis, Papazoglou

Tottenham have five injury worries ahead of their clash at White Hart Lane on Wednesday evening, with Rafael van der Vaart, Danny Rose, Nico Kranjcar, Tom Huddlestone and Michael Dawson all unavailable for selection.
The visiting side will have an almost full squad to choose from, but former Porto player Vierinha will not travel to London after sustaining an injury at the weekend in their Greek Super League fixture against Kerkyra.
The hosts will most likely be taking this tie seriously with three out of the four teams all up for a place in the last 32 of the Europa League, with the visitors especially geared up after going unbeaten so far in Group A and currently topping the table by a narrow solitary point.

DID YOU KNOW?

• This is the 23rd Europa League (or equivalent) campaign for PAOK.

• The side hold the second most consecutive participations in Europe’s second tier competition, entering the tournament nine times in a row from 1997/98 to 2005/06 – just one behind Belgian side Club Brugge's record of 10 uninterrupted entries.

• The Greek outfit’s most successful run in the tournament was back in the 1997/98 season, when they qualified for the second round by beating Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate in the first, but lost to Spanish side Atletico Madrid 9-6 over two legs.

• Current attacker Dimitrios Salpingidis (pictured right) is PAOK’s most appeared player in a Uefa competition and also the side’s highest goalscorer in Europe.

• Tottenham were the inaugural winners of the now defunct Uefa Cup in 1972 and last won the tournament in 1984.

• The game against Laszlo Boloni’s side will be a landmark for Spurs, with the north London outfit playing their 150th game in a Uefa competition, whilst PAOK can record their 150^th European goal against Harry Redknapp’s men.

• Spurs made the last 32 in their last Europa League campaign back in 2008/09, which was the last in a trio of consecutive appearances.

Prediction

Wednesday night’s clash will come down to who wants it the most. Tottenham are just one point off the top of Group A and know a win will put them in a prime position to progress into the last 32.
However, pride is at stake for PAOK as they attempt to keep their unbeaten run going as well as staying ahead of their opponents going into the final group game.

Editor's Prediction

Tottenham 2-1 PAOK

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30.11. (Wed) 20:45 Manchester Utd. - Crystal Palace

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PROBABLE LINEUPS

MANCHESTER UNITED Amos Rafael, Smalling, Fryers, Fabio Valencia, Pogba, Fletcher, Park Diouf, Macheda

CRYSTAL PALACE   Price Clyne, McCarthy, Gardner, Moxey Ambrose, Garvan, Dikgacoi, Scannell Zaha, Easter

Sir Alex Ferguson is set to ring the changes for this quarter-final but it looks to be too soon for Danny Welbeck who is still suffering with a muscle injury and Michael Owen is definitely out with a thigh injury. Chris Smalling and Darron Gibson are back in contention for the Red Devils, with youngsters Paul Pogba and Ezekiel Fryers two fledglings set to start.

Crystal Palace manager Dougie Freedman welcomes back influential midfielder Darren Ambrose but he will be without Dekel Keinan as he is cup tied after representing Cardiff in earlier rounds. Another loanee, striker Chris Martin, should be available but Jonathan Williams is still absent with a broken leg and Lee Hills and Alex Marrow are also out.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Sir Alex won his first major trophy at Manchester United when they beat Crystal Palace 1-0 in the 1990 FA Cup final replay.

• Palace beat fellow Championship side Southampton in the last round, goals from Darren Ambrose and Jermaine Easter sealed a 2-0 victory over the league leaders.

• Manchester United cruised through to the quarter-finals with a 3-0 victory over League Two side Aldershot with goals from Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen and Antonio Valencia.

• The last time the Eagles travelled to the North West they were beaten 5-2 in 2004, and weeks before they had lost the last League Cup encounter between the sides 2-0 with Louis Saha and Kieran Richardson getting the goals.

• Dougie Freedman has been in charge at Selhurst Park since the start of the year. The 37-year-old is another Glaswegian manager and he’ll face the leader of that group in Sir Alex.

• The two sides have met 41 times in their history and not surprisingly United have dominated the head-to-head matches with 26 wins, there have been nine draws and the Eagles have just six victories. In the League Cup this will be their sixth meeting and Palace have not won any of the previous five encounters.

• Palace are a strong side away from home this season – they have won four out of their nine away games but only average one goal per game on their travels.

• Although they have performed well in the Championship this season, the Eagles have not won since their victory over Southampton and have not scored a goal in their past five matches.

• The average age of United’s sides so far in this competition has been 26 versus Leeds and just 24 against Aldershot. They won both games 3-0.

• United will be without their top scorer in the competition, Michael Owen, but Palace will have theirs, Wilfried Zaha, available and keen to add to his three goals already.

Prediction

It’s hard to predict a game like this when the exact nature of Sir Alex ’s line-up is unknown. It will be a good test for the United youngsters against an improving Palace side under Freedman, but expect the home side to come out victorious.

Editor's Prediction

Manchester United 3-1 Crystal Palace

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30.11. (Wed) 19:00 Celtic - Atletico Madrid

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PROBABLE LINEUPS

CELTIC Forster Cha Du-Ri, Majstorovic, Loovens, Matthews Kayal, Wanyama, McCourt Samaras, Stokes, Hooper

ATLETICO MADRID Asenjo Perea, Miranda, Dominguez, Filipe Mario Suarez, Gabi Arda, Diego, Reyes Adrian

Celtic manager Neil Lennon will be wary of tinkering with a winning side too much for this crunch tie against the 2009-10 Europa League winners. His biggest decision will be which forwards to play and how to deploy them. Gary Hooper has been in fine goalscoring form, but he also has James Forrest, Georgios Samaras and Anthony Stokes at his disposal. Northern Ireland midfielder Paddy McCourt could come in for Joe Ledley on Wednesday night after making an appearance from the bench in their 5-0 thrashing of St Mirren over the weekend. Atletico Madrid will likely be lacking their star striker Radamel Falcao, who has a strained abductor muscle from Colombian international duty. Tiago Mendes, Eduardo Silvio and captain Antonio Lopez are also ruled out of the match at Celtic Park. Manager, Gregorio Manzano, will be aware of the larger threat the SPL side pose at their home ground despite beating them in Spain. Teenage goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, on loan from Chelsea, could be dropped by the former Sevilla boss having been red carded in their clash with Real Madrid on Sunday, which would see 22-year-old Sergio Asenjo given a chance between the sticks.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Atletico Madrid won the reverse tie in September 2-0. It was the first game of the group stage for both sides, with the Hoops not having lost in the tournament since.

• Celtic sit third in Group I with five points, below Wednesday’s Spanish opposition and Italian club Udinese, who both have seven points from four games.

• The La Liga club lost on Sunday 4-1 to their local rivals Real Madrid. Atletico took a surprise lead through Adrian but were eventually swept aside by Jose Mourinho’s team.

• SPL striker Gary Hooper (pictured right) has scored six times in the last five games for the Glaswegian club.

• The Spanish side, currently lying 11th in La Liga, beat Premier League club Fulham to take the 2009-10 Europa League crown.

• Celtic are on a run of five straight victories in all competitions. However, they have only collected one win in Europe this campaign, which came in their last match at home to France club Rennes.

• Atletico Madrid have the 19th worst away record in the Spanish top flight this season – they have won none, drawn one and lost five on their travels.

• The last time the Hoops lost was three days after their defeat against Manzano’s side, on September 18 against bitter rivals Rangers.

• In the Europa League, both clubs have an identical away record having both lost 2-0 and drawn 1-1 respectively.

Prediction

This game will be decisive for Celtic’s continental hopes. If Lennon’s men succumb to defeat their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage are all but gone, and a draw would be equally damning. The Scottish side are in fine form but, on the other hand, with only one scalp in Europe this season it would be foolish to immediately condemn the Spanish side to a loss. However, Atletico Madrid’s appalling away form has to be taken into consideration and – if Stokes, Samaras and Hooper perform as they have in recent games – then Celtic Park could be looking at a memorable victory.

Editor's Prediction

Celtic 4-2 Atl. Madrid

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