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PSG, Tottenham on Europa Brink
Stuart Condie | December 13, 2011

Kevin Gameiro, right, who ended 11-game goal drought on Saturday, will lead PSG charge to qualify for Europa League’s next round. (AFP Photo) Kevin Gameiro, right, who ended 11-game goal drought on Saturday, will lead PSG charge to qualify for Europa League’s next round. (AFP Photo)
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London. Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham are among the teams relying on other results for Europa League progress and it isn’t quite clear which way they want things to go when the group stage concludes this week.

Both know elimination would leave them free to focus on more pressing domestic matters.

PSG is tied with Montpellier at the top of the French league, while Spurs are in contention for a top-four finish in England.

PSG hosts Athletic Bilbao today needing to better Salzburg’s result at Slovan Bratislava if it is to progress ahead of the Austrian club. Tottenham can only advance on Thursday if it wins at Shamrock Rovers and Rubin Kazan loses at PAOK.

With 15 teams having advanced, nine berths are left up for grabs this week and 19 clubs are in contention to fill them.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has made clear his view of Europe’s second-tier club competition by consistently fielding second-string lineups of reserves and youth players. A full-strength Spurs side has taken the club to third in the English Premier League but the Europa League side is on the verge of elimination after back-to-back defeats to Rubin and PAOK.

PAOK has already clinched progress and Rubin needs only to avoid defeat to guarantee a place in the knockout stages, where eight sides including Manchester United and Manchester City will enter the competition following their elimination from the Champions League.

Even defeat could take Rubin through since Tottenham also needs victory and a five-goal swing to progress. With Spurs’ slim Premier League title hopes having been further dented by the end of their 11-game unbeaten streak in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Stoke, Redknapp is unlikely to fret too much if his team goes out or significantly strengthen his lineup to prevent it.

Chasing its first French league title since 1993-94, PSG is in a similar position.

PSG will be missing striker Guillaume Hoarau and midfielders Clement Chantome and Blaise Matuidi against Bilbao, which has already advanced.

Javier Pastore is without a goal in six games, but Kevin Gameiro ended an 11-game scoring drought in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Sochaux.

That was also PSG’s first clean sheet in six games after conceding nine in the previous five.

“It had been a while since we didn’t concede a goal,” coach Antoine Kombouare said. “It’s the best way to prepare for the Bilbao match on Wednesday. Victories give us a lot of confidence.”

Also on today, Lazio needs to pick up more points in Group D against Sporting Lisbon than FC Vaslui manages at FC Zurich to edge the Romanian team to the next round.

Associated Press