Bodø/Glimt arrive at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with injury worries to contend with.

Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a boost as they look to overcome Bodø/Glimt in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final tonight with the visitors to be without a key defender for the clash.

Spurs host the Norwegian side in north London with both clubs looking to get a leg-up ahead of the second leg in Scandinavia next week. The winner of the semi-final will face either Manchester United or Athletic Bilbao in the final later this month.

Ange Postecoglou’s side go into the match as favourites but Bodø/Glimt have already knocked Lazio and Olympiacos out of the competition. There is added hope for the Premier League side ahead of the first leg with it being confirmed this afternoon that Odin Luras Bjørtuft will not feature tonight.

Bodø/Glimt injury blow confirmed

The defender was a doubt going into the match having picked up a groin injury in the side’s last game. Manager Kjetil Knutsen had said: "I do not know anything. I never enjoy a player laying down, but the medical staff are looking into it."

That doubt is now confirmed to be an out with Lilywhite Rose claiming that Bjørtuft is ‘out for tonight’. That has been relayed by Norwegian football expert Dagfinn Thon, who adds that Ole Blomberg is also expected to miss out tonight.

Blomberg has picked up two assists in the Europa League knockout stages while Bjørtuft has been a prominent figure in the Europa League campaign so far. Thon added that Bodø/Glimt are without ‘the team’s most important player’ and that ‘anything better than 3+ goals conceded is a great result’ for the underdogs in London tonight,

Son Heung-min and Radu Dragusin are the only absentees for Postecoglou, who has the luxury of an almost fully fit attack to put his side into a strong position going into the second leg next week. Spurs only managed to score one goal in each of their quarter final meetings against Eintracht Frankfurt, through Pedro Porro and Dominic Solanke, but did put three past AZ Alkmaar at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Round of 16.

Ange Postecoglou hopes for Tottenham Hotspur dominance

When asked if Spurs have an extra incentive to be prolific at home with away goals scrapped, Postecoglou said: "I think you try and do that anyway. Playing at home in Europe for every club has its advantages, and you want to try to take that advantage. Bodo away is a difficult challenge.

"I think tomorrow night what's really important is that we put in another dominant performance. Hopefully if we create as many chances, it's time they go in rather than hitting crossbars and so forth.

"But I don't think you just go into tomorrow night thinking you're going to kill off the tie then," he said. "I think semi-finals for the most part tend to be pretty tight. And I expect that tomorrow night."

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