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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has acknowledged the threat that in-demand Eintracht Frankfurt star Hugo Ekitike is expected to pose and insists that it will be up to him and his defensive partners to eliminate that danger on Thursday night.
Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham have a lot resting on the outcome of the game in Germany, with a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final tie putting things in the balance.
In front of them will be a side that have shown great promise this season and beat Dutch giants Ajax to secure a spot in the quarter-finals.
One of the main architects of Eintracht Frankfurt’s success has been their French striker Ekitike, who has scored 21 goals already this season, and has been linked with a host of clubs, including Liverpool.
He was the scorer of the visiting team’s only goal in London and Van de Ven insists that it will be up to him and his team-mates to eliminate those threats and come away with a positive result from Germany.
“He [Ektike] is a really good player, he has also scored really good goals against us and you can see his quality”, Van de Ven said at a press conference (7:57).
“So yes, tomorrow it’s going to be me and the players who are playing next to me to eliminate him from the game tomorrow.
| Competition | Goals |
|---|---|
| Bundesliga | 14 |
| Europa League | 4 |
| German Cup | 3 |
“And hopefully we have a good chance to, because of course he is an unbelievable threat from them.
“He is a good player, so yes, it is up to us to eliminate him tomorrow and hopefully we can get the win there.”
There are sure to be a number of Premier League clubs keeping a close eye on how Ekitike does against Tottenham as big bids could be sent to Eintracht Frankfurt to try to land him in the summer transfer window.
After a disappointing 4-2 defeat in their last match against Wolves in the Premier League, Postecoglou will be under pressure to dig out a result and keep his job as the manager of Tottenham.
