Spurs vs AZ Alkmaar | Form guide ahead of Europa League clash
Wed 23 October 2024, 16:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
AZ Alkmaar come into this week's fixture having endured a mixed start to their campaign in all competitions.
They currently sit fifth in the Eredivisie, having won five of their opening nine fixtures, level on points with Ajax in the Champions League spots, but behind in the table due to having dropped more points.
They started their European campaign by edging a five-goal thriller at home against IF Elfsborg before enduring a 2-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao, leaving them 18th in the Europa League table.
The last five...
25 September, 2024 - UEFA Europa League - AZ Alkmaar 3-2 IF Elfsborg (van Bommel (2) & Parrott)
29 September, 2024 - Eredivisie - AZ Alkmaar 1-2 FC Utrecht (Parrott)
3 October, 2024 - UEFA Europa League - Athletic Bilbao 2-0 AZ Alkmaar
6 October, 2024 - Eredivisie - Fortuna Sittard 1-0 AZ Alkmaar
19 October, 2024 - Eredivisie - AZ Alkmaar 1-2 PSV Eindhoven (Kasius)
AZ began their 2024/25 campaign on fire, remaining unbeaten for the first seven games of the season, winning six of them.
After back-to-back 1-0 wins in their opening two games, they were held to a 0-0 draw away at Groningen before running out 3-0 winners at RKC Waalwijk. Having kept clean sheets in their opening four games, they then conceded their first goal of the campaign in the fifth matchday of the Eredivisie season, but that mattered little as they ran out 9-1 winners over Robin van Persie's Heerenveen with our former Academy graduate Troy Parrott scoring four of their goals.
A 2-1 win at PEC Zwolle followed before they kicked off their Europa League journey with a 3-2 win over Elfsborg - Parrott again coming up trumps with the ultimate matchwinner. However, since that win over the Swedish side, the Dutch outfit have lost every game since.
Three Eredisivie defeats on the spin plus a 2-0 loss at Bilbao in the Europa League - a run in which they have scored just twice - has seen the wheels come off Maarten Martens' side's strong start somewhat ahead of their trip to London.
Those the results leave Martens' side fifth in the Eredivisie table, level on points with Ajax in the final Champions League spot, but behind due to points dropped, which separates side before goal difference in the Dutch league, whilst they're 18th in the Europa League table, firmly inside the 24 knock-out spots - behind Rangers on goal difference but ahead of the likes of Roma, Porto and Manchester United.
European history...
Founded in 1967, AZ made their European debut just a decade later, with a thumping 16-1 aggregate win over Luxembourg's Red Boys Differange in the UEFA Cup, before back-to-back 1-1 draws against Barcelona saw them knocked out on penalties.
Their third campaign in 1980-81 saw them reach the UEFA Cup final, dispatching Differange, Levski Sofia, Radnicki Nis, Lokeren and Sochaux to secure a spot in the final against Ipswich Town. A 4-2 win in the home leg put Alkmaar in control heading to Portman Road, only for the Tractor Boys to run out 3-0 winners, clinching the trophy through a 5-4 aggregate scoreline.
The following campaign saw a first-ever European Cup entry, being eliminated by Liverpool in the round of 16, again losing 5-4 on aggregate, before being involved in the European Cup Winners' Cup the following season, being eliminated by Inter Milan in the second round.
The club then went without European football for 21 years before returning with a bang, reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, beating Auxerre, Rangers, Shakhtar Donetsk and Villarreal amongst others, before a 4-4 aggregate draw with Sporting Lisbon saw them knocked out on away goals.
They've only missed out on qualifying for European football in six of the 20 seasons since then, making the UEFA Cup quarter-finals in 2006/07, the Europa League Quarter-finals in 2011/12 and 2013/14 and the semi-finals of the Conference League in 2022/23, being knocked out by eventual winners West Ham United.
