3 biggest keys to victory for Tottenham vs. Frankfurt in leg two | OneFootball

Tottenham will face Eintracht Frankfut at the Deutsche Bank Park on Thursday night for the second leg of the Europa League quarterfinals. Here are their three biggest keys to a victory.

Play through James Maddison

James Maddison is the muse from which the vast majority of Spurs' best moves emanate. The former Leicester City man's moment of brililance on the ball created the goal for Pedro Porro that equalized the proceedings at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and it would stand to reason that his actions will be decisive again on Thursday.

No player on Tottenham has scored more goals this Premier League season than Maddison - and nobody has drawn more fouls, for that matter. Not only do Tottenham need to help put Maddison in positions where he can succeed and get opportunities to put the other players through on goal, but they also need to help him facilitate play earlier as the primary attacking progressor.

The other midfielders and the fullbacks need to siphon the ball to Maddison and be outlets for him to play one-twos through the Eintracht Frankfurt midfield and into the final third, where Maddison's superior technical quality can create the kind of gilt-edged chances that Tottenham desperately need in order to sink their opponents on the road.

Win the battle out wide

Pedro Porro scored a brilliant equalizer in the first leg, but Tottenham are going to need even more all-around from both the star right back and talented young left back Destiny Udogie. The latter had positive moments in the first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt, but his end product consistently let him down in the end.

Tottenham need both the Portuguese and Italian internationals to be at their top-class best on Thursday. Eintracht are more vulnerable on the outside defensively than they'd like to admit, and Udogie, in particular, could be the biggest difference between the first and second legs if he's able to convert his opportunities and excellent progression into clear-cut chances for the strikers.

If Tottenham can dominate the wing battles, starting with their talented fullback tandem, then they will have a key advantage in taking down Eintracht.

No more mental lapses defensively

Guglielmo Vicario pretty much threw away the game on Sunday against Wolves before it could ever get going with two horrible goalkeeping errors that go against everything he's done to help Tottenham avoid further embarrassemnt this season. But Vicario isn't alone, as the other star defenders on Tottenham ahve undermined themselves with boneheaded mistakes.

If Tottenham continue to commit unforced errors or basic positional mistakes that send attackers through on goal, then it won't matter what else they do on Thursday. Eintracht Frankfurt, in particular, are a highly opportunistic side with big-game veterans like Mario Gotze and sterling newcomers like Hugo Ekitike who have the chops to take advantage of gimme mistakes.

The surest way to lose this game is for Tottenham to hand it to Eintracht on a silver platter. Eintracht will make full use of pressing triggers and hound Spurs into making the pass that they want defensively, targeting a player on the sideline into an easy giveaway. Tottenham simply cannot fall into that trap, and both Ange Postecoglou and the players have a responsibility to play as safe as possible when in their own defensive third.