Fiorentina v Tottenham: Europa League a priority for Bentaleb

Nabil Bentaleb insists Tottenham do not view Thursday’s UEFA Europa League clash with Fiorentina as a distraction in their season.

In the midst of a busy period for Tottenham, midfielder Nabil Bentaleb has dismissed suggestions that a UEFA Europa League exit to Fiorentina on Thursday could prove a silver lining.

The sides drew the first leg of the last-32 clash at White Hart Lane 1-1 a week ago as Jose Basanta cancelled out Roberto Soldado’s opener.

It kicked off the start of a crucial few weeks for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, with Spurs going into this week’s clash off the back of a 2-2 draw with London rivals West Ham.

Pochettino’s men also contest the League Cup final against Chelsea on Sunday while attempting to maintain their push for a top-four Premier League place – although Bentaleb maintains the Europa League remains a priority.

“We would be gutted if we go out of the Europa League,” he told reporters.

“We’re going to go to Fiorentina on Thursday to win that game.

“If we start thinking like this [that elimination would be a good thing] we’re not going anywhere. We have to keep that hunger we have inside us to want to win everything.

“We have big chances in both competitions. We have a large squad, we have the qualities to play well in this competition and I think we want to prove that.

“It’s not like everything’s back in doubt because we drew against West Ham. We know what we want to do before the end of the season and we will keep working to get our targets.”

Fiorentina were also held in their domestic competition at the weekend, with Mohamed Salah’s 85th-minute goal not enough to secure maximum points against Torino.

Giuseppe Vives’ late qualiser proved a source of frustration for Vincenzo Montella, who is predicting an open encounter at the Stadio Artemi Franchi.

“Our defence held up well over the 90 minutes [against Torino] but we were naive to concede that goal,” Montella told Sky Italia.

“We weren’t very clear-headed in the final minutes; we’ll learn from that for the future.

“It will be an open game against Tottenham on Thursday. We want to give the best of ourselves as we did in the first leg.”

Montella will likely be without goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu (back), but Borja Valero could return after suffering an ankle wound in the first leg against Tottenham, who have no fresh injury concerns.