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Sports Mole previews Thursday's Europa Conference League clash between Pacos de Ferreira and Tottenham Hotspur, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Tottenham Hotspur start what they hope will be a season-long Europa Conference League campaign with a fixture against Pacos de Ferreira on Thursday night.

Nuno Espirito Santo's side travel to Portugal for the first leg with the reverse fixture taking place in North London next week.

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Match preview

Having had to fend off questions regarding Harry Kane since his arrival at Spurs, head coach Nuno would have been relieved to finally get the season underway against Manchester City at the weekend.

There were fears that a team lacking the presence of their talisman would succumb tamely to the Premier League champions, but the North London side were deserved victors at their home ground.

Despite the manner of their success, Nuno will stress that he will take one game at a time, particularly with this European double-header taking place either side of a return to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.

While some have questioned the need for a third continental competition, Nuno will view it as an opportunity to end the club's wait for silverware.

However, before they can think about a prolonged run in the tournament, Spurs must focus on overcoming arguably the toughest team that they could have faced at this stage.

Although Pacos de Ferreira are competing in Europe for the first time since 2013-14, they deserve respect after their fifth-placed finish in Portugal's top flight last season.

Monday's 3-0 reverse at Boavista will concern Jorge Simao, who would have expected Os Castores to build on their opening-day success against Famalicao.

Pacos de Ferreira have now lost successive games in all competitions without scoring a goal, preparation which is less than ideal for a game of his magnitude.

Denilson started the campaign with three goals from two games, but the forward has now gone three outings without finding the back of the net.

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Team News

Spurs revealed on Wednesday that Kane would play no part of this fixture, the focus instead being on featuring against Wolves at the weekend.

The Portuguese has revealed that all 11 players who started at the weekend have been left at home, so full debuts will be handed to the likes of Pierluigi Gollini, Cristian Romero and Bryan Gil.

Giovani Lo Celso could also be brought into the starting lineup, with Ryan Sessegnon also in line to feature after a hamstring injury.

Having made four alterations by the 70th minute against Boavista, Simao could make a number of changes to his Pacos de Ferreira XI.

Helder Ferreira, Ze Uilton, Joao Pedro and Douglas Tanque are all in contention for appearances in the team.

Pacos de Ferreira possible starting lineup:
A.Ferreira; Fonseca, Ramos, Baixinho, Antunes; Carlos, Eustaquio, Santos; H.Ferreira, Denilson, Silva

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Gollini; Doherty, Romero, Davies, Sessegnon; Sissoko, Winks, Lo Celso; Clarke, Scarlett, Gil

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We say: Pacos de Ferreira 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Given the lack of match sharpness from the Spurs players who did not start at the weekend, we expect a competitive match on Thursday night.

Nevertheless, even in the absence of Kane, the Premier league outfit should still have enough quality to edge this game.

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