Can Ange Postecoglou salvage a woeful campaign with UEFA Europa League glory? We look ahead to the first leg of Spurs’ semi-final clash with our Tottenham vs Bodø/Glimt prediction and preview.
Tottenham vs Bodø/Glimt Stats: The Key Insights
Tottenham triumphed in the first leg across 58.5% of pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer. Bodø/Glimt are the first Norwegian side ever to reach the semi-final of a major European competition. Dominic Solanke has been involved in seven UEFA Europa League goals this season (3 goals, 4 assists), the most by a Spurs player in a campaign since Carlos Vinícius in 2020-21 (6 goals, 3 assists).Tottenham‘s only hope of saving a miserable campaign remains the UEFA Europa League, in which they host Bodø/Glimt on Thursday for the first leg of their semi-final.
Spurs must dust themselves down from Sunday’s 5-1 thrashing by Liverpool, which crowned the Reds as Premier League champions, before the visit of Bodø/Glimt, who are fighting for a place in the final alongside either Manchester United or Athletic Club.
Tottenham’s record outside of domestic action paints a more positive picture, however, with Spurs aiming to extend their 19-match unbeaten run at home in European competitions (W15 D4). That undefeated stretch, since losing 1-0 to RB Leipzig in February 2020, is the longest ongoing run of any English side to feature in Europe this season.
Rotation has been a key focus since Tottenham’s primary attention turned to the Europa League, with Ange Postecoglou making eight changes for the Liverpool defeat – that was Spurs’ most alterations from one Premier League match to another in history.
Dominic Solanke briefly threatened to delay Liverpool’s celebrations with an early opener on Sunday, although the collapse that followed was somewhat symbolic of Spurs’ dismal 2024-25 campaign.
Solanke was also on target last time out in this competition, his first-half penalty the difference as Spurs edged past Eintracht Frankfurt with a 1-0 victory that secured a 2-1 aggregate triumph in the quarter-finals.
That took him to seven Europa League goal involvements this season (3 goals, 4 assists), the most by a Spurs player in a campaign since Carlos Vinícius in 2020-21 (6 goals, 3 assists). Rangers’ James Tavernier in 2021-22 (7 goals, 2 assists) and Bobby Zamora for Fulham in 2009-10 (6 goals, 2 assists) are the only Englishmen with more in one season for any team.
Bodø/Glimt will by no means make Solanke’s life easy, having made 296 tackles in this season’s Europa League, the most by a side in one season since 2017-18 (Marseille – 309, and Red Bull Salzburg – 346).
Captain Patrick Berg has made a record 63 tackles this season but will miss out due to an accumulation of yellow cards, along with midfield partner Hakon Evjen. Andreas Helmersen is also suspended after he was sent off in the last round against Lazio, while Ole Blomberg is an injury doubt and first-choice centre-back Odin Bjørtuft limped off in Sunday’s 3-0 win over KFUM.
Their absences will be sorely felt as Bodø/Glimt look to recover from losing each of their last three away Europa League matches – all of which have come in the knockout stages. They have also won just once away from home in 10 attempts (D3 L6), a 2-1 win at Braga in the league phase this season.
Concerningly for the visitors, the only teams to lose the away leg in the last 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals en route to reaching a Europa League final are Ajax in 2016-17 and Rangers in 2021-22.
However, this Bodø/Glimt side are used to bucking trends given they are the first Norwegian side to ever reach the semi-finals of a major European competition. It’s the first time there will be a country’s team represented in the final four for the first time since Ukraine’s Dynamo Kyiv reached the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in 1998-99.
Thursday will provide a memorable moment too for Bodø/Glimt manager Kjetil Knutsen, who will be only the second Norwegian boss to take charge of a Europa League semi-final, after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2019-20 and 2020-21 for Man Utd. Norwegian managers have lost all eight games against English teams in this competition, however.
On the contrary, this will be Spurs’ ninth major European semi-final but first since the 2018-19 Champions League campaign, when they beat Ajax over two legs in dramatic fashion thanks to Lucas Moura. They’ve lost the first leg of their last two semi-finals (2-1 vs Hajduk Split in 1983-84 UEFA Cup, 1-0 vs Ajax in 2019) but recovered each time to reach the final.
Son Heung-min played a role in that memorable comeback over Ajax but could miss Thursday’s first leg due to an ankle injury, while Radu Dragusin‘s season is over after ACL surgery on his right knee.
Tottenham vs Bodø/Glimt Head-to-Head
These two sides have never previously faced each other in any European competition, though Spurs have a favourable record against Norwegian opposition.
They have won all four of their previous European games against teams from Norway, beating Lyn 6-3 (away) and 6-0 (home) in the 1972-73 UEFA Cup and Tromsø 3-0 (home) and 2-0 (away) in the 2013-14 Europa League.
In stark contrast, Bodø/Glimt have lost all three of their European meetings with English clubs, losing home and away against Arsenal in the Europa League. They also lost 3-2 away at Man Utd earlier this campaign in the league phase.
Tottenham vs Bodø/Glimt Prediction
Tottenham have a strong 66.6% chance of reaching the final in Opta’s tournament predictions, the greatest of any team remaining in the competition and far ahead of Bodø/Glimt’s 33.4%.
That dominant likelihood is aided by the fact that Spurs won 58.5% of 10,000 pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer for Thursday’s first-leg clash.
Bodø/Glimt have just a 19.9% chance of an unlikely away victory in north London, with the draw rated at 21.6%.
Tottenham vs Bodø/Glimt Predicted Lineups
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off in London on Thursday night, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
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Tottenham vs Bodø/Glimt Prediction Opta Analyst.
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