SHAMROCK ROVERS OPENED their Europa League account with a 3-0 home defeat to Rubin Kazan earlier this month and the fixtures get no kinder for the League of Ireland champions as they travel to White Hart Lane later this week.

Any match fitness advantage that Michael O’Neill’s men might have had over European opponents back in the summer is well gone at this stage and coupled with the fact that the club is also trying to maintain league form as they bid to retain their title, Thursday’s fixture is another difficult assignment.

However, aside from the fact that anything can happen in football, there are a couple of considerations that should give the Hoops cause for hope.

Concentration at the back

A cliché, yes, but very important on this occasion.

Rovers’ heroics in Europe so far have largely been based on solid performances from their back line, a line depleted by injury at times. The concession of an early goal to Rubin Kazan was a massive blow and the fact the visitors took nearly 50 minutes to score a second was a testament to the efforts of Dan Murray and company.

Rovers have one of the most experienced League of Ireland players – in terms of European game time – in Murray and they could well have the likes of Craig Sives and Ken Oman back for the clash with Spurs. However, while the Cup game against Sligo Rovers provided the Dublin side with a stern test, last weekend’s 5-2 win over Bray did not.

Tottenham, for their part, haven’t found goals the easiest things to come by so far this season (the Liverpool game apart) and O’Neill will no doubt look to frustrate and contain the home side, at least for the game in London.

Ruthless return

Rovers might have made more of the contest against Kazan had they taken even one or two of the limited number of chances that came their way on the night.

Goals have been scarce enough for the Hoops in Europe — with Gary Twigg finding himself leading a lonely front line at times — but O’Neill will have been delighted to see four different players getting on the score sheet against Bray, purely from a confidence point of view.

Visiting London, Rovers are not likely to have many opportunities but if they arrive, the chances need to be taken with the rest of the starting XI giving every support to Twigg or whoever is selected up front. There are goals in this Rovers team — they just need to make that ability count when it matters, something that happened in Belgrade.

North London derby

Harry Redknapp rested several of his star players in Spurs’ opening Group A match against PAOK Salonika (a game that ended 0-0) and that trend looks set to continue this week with Gareth Bale in particular one of the players pencilled in for a night off.

The reason? Arsenal will be arriving at White Hart Lane three days after the fixture with Rovers and no matter who they are facing in Europe, a match against Arsenal – no matter what the competition – will always take priority with Tottenham. With one eye on the weekend, the question will be whether or not Spurs can be fully tuned in with a north London derby just around the corner.

O’Neill has said a number of times over the past fortnight that winning another league title is the priority for Rovers over the coming weeks. They are capable of getting a result or two in this group though, especially with their home games at Tallaght, but only time will tell if there is another away display the quality of what we witnessed in Belgrade left in legs that have now played more than eight months of football.

Peas prepared for Parisian challenge

Team wolf: ‘Delighted’ Doyle inks new four-year deal

Mismatched pants end Bath’s Youth Cup dream