Off to a winning start in new-look Europa League

Our return to European football ended in victory on Thursday evening as we recovered from an early sending-off to score three unanswered goals against Qarabag at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Back in UEFA competition after a one-year hiatus, we opened our Europa League, league phase in some style, shrugging off the disappointment of losing Radu Dragusin to a straight red card in the eighth minute to pick up three points which leaves us in fourth place after matchday one in the newly-revamped 36-team league.

Brennan Johnson set us on our way with the opening goal – scoring for the third straight game – before Pape Matar Sarr and Dominic Solanke netted after the interval, while Tural Bayramov missed a penalty for the Azerbaijan champions, who also missed a host of other chances.

With kick off delayed 35 minutes due to Qarabag’s late arrival caused by weather and traffic disruption, we made the worst possible start. Just eight minutes had passed when Micky van de Ven played the ball back to Dragusin inside our own half, he was swiftly closed down by Juninho and, as the Qarabag forward got ahead of Dragusin, the Romanian inertantional brought him down leaving French referee Willy Delajod no option but to send him off.

That led to a reshuffle as Destiny Udogie came on with the unfortunate Lucas Bergvall the player to be sacrificed and almost immediately after the switch we took the lead. Solanke pinched the ball from Julio Romao 30 yards from goal, played in Johnson and he produced a lovely right-foot angled drive into the far corner past Mateusz Kochalski.

The visitors had a glorious chance to level on 18 minutes, Bayramov clean through on goal but, under pressure in the end from Udogie, mis-kicked in front of goal and Guglielmo Vicario gathered the ball. And 10 minutes later it was our turn again, Johnson knocking the ball past the onrushing Kochalski with a clever header on the right angle of the area but then sliding a shot just past the post.

Despite the numerical disadvantage we had an element of control in the game although were always susceptible to the counter-attack and five minutes before the break, Qarabag hit us with one such break, Elvin Jafarguliyev sending in a cross from the left but Juninho side-footed wide unmarked eight yards out. On the stroke of half-time, Vicario made an unbelievable sprawling tackle 30 yards from his goal to prevent Juninho from latching onto a wayward Ben Davies pass back, ensuring we went in ahead at the interval.

Having scored early in the first half, we broke through again even earlier in the second, just seven minutes gone when substitute Dejan Kulusevski’s corner was flicked away to Sarr near the corner of the six-yard box and he volleyed home via a deflection off Patrick Andrade on the goal-line.

Three minutes later though, Jafarguliyev was tripped by Yves Bissouma in the area with the referee awarding a penalty, only for Bayramov to blast his spot-kick over, while Vicario kept out Juninho’s effort moments later. We then went up the other end, Heung-Min Son playing in Solanke but he was denied by Kochalski from close range.

Vicario then kept out efforts from Bayramov and Abdellah Zoubir before Juninho struck the post with a fierce drive as the visitors stepped up the pressure but we continued to make them pay for their profligacy, adding a third goal in the 68th minute. This time Son hit a curling right-foot effort through a crowd of players which Kochalski could only parry and, quick as a flash, Solanke was there to slot home the loose ball. Back came Qarabag, looking for that one goal that might have given them a way back into the contest and when Jafarguliyev hit an effort from 25 yards, it was heading for the top corner until Vicario produced a stunning one-handed save to tip it over the bar. In the end though, it was a solid performance by our 10 men and gives us the perfect start to our Europa League campaign.

Team news saw Ange Postecoglou make six changes to the starting XI from Saturday's clash with Brentford. Archie Gray, Bergvall, Dragusin, Davies, Sarr and Bissouma all came in, while young forward Will Lankshear was named in a first team matchday squad for the first time as he took his place on the bench.

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Johnson 12, Sarr 52, Solanke 68.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Bissouma; Qarabag – Jafarguliyev.

Red card: Spurs – Dragusin.

Referee: Willy Delajod.

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Light rain, gentle breeze, 10 degrees.

Attendance: 51,757.