Will Spurs and Manchester City’s woeful away form ruin their UEFA Cup prospects?

Two poor domestic travellers visit the Ukraine and Denmark

Tottenham and Manchester City have been two of the poorest away sides in the Premier League this season but so far their domestic struggles on the road haven’t hampered their UEFA Cup bids.  Tonight though both face tough tasks, with Spurs facing Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk and the Citizens travelling to Copenhagen. Here are all the important stats:

Shakhtar Donetsk v Tottenham (6.45pm, Five)
Tottenham have won just two of twelve Premier League away games this season and are only marginally better in cup competition, with two wins to show from their last six on the road. Redknapp has won just one of his last four European away games with West Ham, Portsmouth and Spurs. Their Ukrainian opponents were the best team not to qualify to the last sixteen of the Champions League. They won five of their eight games in the competition and became the only club to beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp this season. With Redknapp leaving players behind in London, Spurs may struggle.

FC Copenhagen v Manchester City (7.05pm, BBC3)
Unlike Tottenham, the Citizens struggles on the road have had minimal impact on their European form. Despite not winning a domestic away game since last August, and winning just two in the last year, Mark Hughes’ side have managed to win four of their five European away games to date. However, they lost the most recent one against Racing Santander, who pointedly have won none of their five home games since. Copenhagen are impressive at home, losing just one of their last nineteen, but they have won none of their last three UEFA Cup games at Parken Stadium, meaning City have a chance of drawing as long as they don’t play anywhere near as badly as they did against Portsmouth.

Posted: February 19th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn |