Jose Mourinho on LASK, Europa League, West Ham Draw & Team News

Tottenham start their Europa League group stage campaign on Thursday, with Austrian outfit LASK making the trip to north London.

It's the first time Spurs have featured in this stage of the competition since the 2015/16 season, though they did play in the knockout rounds the term after, being knocked out in the round of 32 by Belgian side Gent.

Ahead of Thursday night's game, manager Jose Mourinho gave his verdict to the press on the West Ham result, the Europa League and more.

Team News

Davinson Sanchez, who was part of the press conference, will play on Thursday, but Mourinho would not be drawn on whether new signings Carlos Vinicius or Gareth Bale would start.

He said: "Apart from Eric Dier and Japhet Tanganga, we have everyone available apart from the players left out of the list."

He also made a quick quip on Sanchez's own goal against West Ham, describing it as 'amazing'.

Regarding Joe Rodon, who is ineligible for both the Europa League and the Carabao Cup, he added: "Fundamentally, let's see how he adapts to training, the different level, the different intensity. We got him because we see a future on him and a player who can be adapted to the way he wants to play."

LASK & Europa League Ambitions

Mourinho has won the Europa League twice in his managerial career, most recently with Manchester United in 2017, and his recent post on Instagram confirmed he and his side would be going for the competition.

Tottenham have never faced LASK, who currently sit fifth in the Austrian Bundesliga.

Mourinho said: "From my analysis, they can be a very difficult opponent. They are a team who want to dominate, they are a team who want to be always pressing in the opposition half, they are a very difficult team so yes, I like to play against difficult teams.

"We are going to try [to win the competition]. It is the third time I've played the competition, the other two times, one with Porto, one with United, we managed to win it, so the record in the Europa League is great.

"We know it is difficult. It is a very long competition, the group phase is tricky, then you go to the knockouts and you get teams coming from the Champions League which in my opinion is very unfair, because you play Champions League, you don't qualify, you go home. In the Europa League we play the group phase, if a team finishes third, they go home. It is what it is."

West Ham & 'Spursy'

While there have been sight murmurings of a title challenge this season, Sunday's draw with West Ham showed the weaknesses in defence that Tottenham are still yet to address.

Asked whether his side could shake the 'Spursy' tag they have been labelled with throughout the years, Mourinho added: "I believe that winning 3-0 in the 80th minute, we can play 50 more matches and it's not going to happen again, so I don't want to be sticking on this and no stories about 'Spursy' and this kind of thing.

"We just need to defend better from set pieces. We've conceded just one goal from open play against Southampton."

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