Hearts V Tottenham

Tottenham belatedly get their season underway on Thursday night in the Europa League play-offs against Hearts. Redknapp’s men will need to hit the ground running if they aren’t to be found wanting against a side with six matches already under their belt this season. With a host of big names missing for the English side, and the safety net of a second leg at White Hart Lane to fall back on, I can see Hearts earning a draw at generous odds of 3/1 with WilliamHill.

The Tynecastle club had a morale boosting performance last Saturday after another turbulent few weeks at the club. The 3-0 win over Aberdeen was the first three points picked up in the league this season, and since Jim Jefferies was dismissed at the start of August. This seemed harsh so soon after an impressive 1-1 draw at Ibrox on the opening day of the SPL season. New boss Paulo Sergio will be relieved to be off and running and encouraged by the two goal contribution of new signing John Sutton who left Motherwell in the summer.

Cast your memory back almost a year to the day and you might recall that Spurs were caught very cold in the Champions League qualifier against Young Boys. The Londoners quickly found themselves 3-0 down in the first leg before they managed to turn things round. That should be a lesson learnt, but it shows how tough it can be to have a testing away game in mid-August.

The long list of Tottenham absentees includes Sandro, Modric, Huddlestone, Palacios, Jenas and Gallas. It’s hard to imagine these losses won’t be felt to some extent. That said, the visitors are still by far the stronger team on paper and they should avoid a humbling defeat.

A first leg draw in Edinburgh looks highly probable and overpriced at best odds of 3/1 with WilliamHill.