A heavy 3-0 loss in the first leg against Borussia Dortmund has Tottenham on the cusp of crashing out of the Europa League. Should they just turn their attention to trying to catch Leicetser City in the Premier League?

It goes without saying that Mauricio Pochettino will be a man under immense pressure this Thursday.

The Argentinian tactician was slammed by both Tottenham fans and the general press for fielding an under-strength line-up during their Europa League round of 16 meeting with Dortmund last week. As a result, the ambitious London side will be coming into the second leg already three goals behind and a seemingly insurmountable task ahead if they want to have any chance to securing a spot in the quarter-finals.

Pochettino is caught between two minds: The Premier League or the Europa League?

However, if one were to look at it from a rational standpoint, Pochettino's tactical choices were clearly not the sign of absolute folly, but rather calculation. Due to the meltdown of reigning champions Chelesa, the disappointing form of teams like Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, and even Liverpool, the race for the Premier League title has taken on a totally different form this season.

Leicester City - a team that a year ago were fighting relegation - are actually top of the pile, and even more shocking is that the Foxes are currently enjoying a five point lead over the chasing pack. And the team in hot pursuit? Not 2014 Premier League champions Manchester City, who are 12 points behind in fourth. Not Chelsea, who have struggled to even crack the top ten this term, let alone come anywhere near a top four finish. And not Manchester United, who sit behind West Ham in sixth place and are in danger of missing out on Champions League football for yet another season.

Although the Citizens, the Blues, and the Red Devils all have a game in hand, they would be nowhere closer towards catching the surprise leaders even if they had played all 30 games already. No, rather the team that has the best chance of catching Claudio Ranieri's side is Tottenham - a side that no one would have viewed as title contenders when this season kicked off this past August.

Pochettino has had to make some difficult choices over the past week, especially with Tottenham in the running for a long-awaited Premier League title

Well, with two months to go, Spurs are yes, five points behind, but they can now dream of something bigger than finishing in the top four: the Premier League title. Between Tottenham and Leicester supporters, this season has been something totally out of a fairy tale. Neither Spurs nor Foxes fans would have envisioned their respective teams being in the top two spots in the Premier League table, and for Pochettino, he is in a good position to guide the ambitious London side to their first trophy since winning the Capital One Cup during the 2007/2008 campaign.

The last time Tottenham found themselves on top of the league was well before any of the players and quite a few fans - and perhaps some of their parents - were even born. This was even before the Premier League as we know it was created. Back then, English football's top flight was known simply as the First Division, and it was in the 1960/1961 season. Indeed, it was a time when things like Twitter, the Internet, or even mobile phones were not even something people had dreamed of. 

So, should Tottenham earn themselves a spot in the winners' podium, it will be the first time in 55 years that Spurs have been crowned champions of England. Is this something that their fans will want to miss out on? Obviously not. Certainly, this is something that Pochettino had in mind when deciding to field a weakened starting XI against Dortmund last week, but will this gamble pay off?

If you do not take risks, you cannot succeed: A look at Tottenham's European and domestic situation

Let's take a look at where Tottenham are now. Having lost the first leg in Germany 3-0, they now will obviously have to score at least three at White Hart Lane just to push the game to extra-time. This is, of course whilst somehow keeping die Schwarzgelben from scoring. And given how solid Thomas Tuchel's side have been in both the Bundesliga and Europa League this season, Pochettino's side will be in for a tough evening in London.

Are they facing, then, a "mission impossible"? Has any team managed to overcome a 3-0 deficit and still progress? The answers to these two questions are "perhaps" and "yes". The first question is subject to speculation and interpretation, but the second is as clear as can possibly be. Back in the 2013/2014 Europa League campaign, Valencia were defeated by Swiss outfit Basel 3-0 in the quarter-finals first leg on April 3, 2014.

For all intents and purposes, one cannot blame Basel fans for already believing that their side were cruising on to the semi-finals. However, Los Che managed to pull off a truly impressive comeback. After scoring three in regulation time, they added two more in extra time to dump the Swiss side out 5-3 on aggregate and book their spot, against all odds, in the final four

And let's not forget that historic night in 2005, when AC Milan had a three goal lead over Liverpool, only to see the Reds rally back to score three unanswered, push the game all the way to penalties, and deny the Rossoneri a chance to win what, at that time, would have been their seventh Champions League title.

So, yes, in theory, Tottenham are not out of European competition. But it will take a Herculean task - and an absolute meltdown on the part of Dortmund - for them to get to the quarter-finals. Unlike the English side, Dortmund are highly unlikely to win the Bundesliga due to Bayern Munich's stranglehold on the league title and naturally, have placed all their efforts into the Europa League - a competition in which they are viewed as the favorites to win.

Meanwhile, should they see off Dortmund, what's next for Tottenham? They will then have to successfully navigate through five more games in order to win the title, and given that the opposition generally gets tougher and tougher, there are no guarantees they will be one of the two finalists taking part in this season's final at St. Jakob's Park in Switzerland.

Meanwhile, in the Premier League, they have eight games between now and the end of the season. Three of these matches are against Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea. Yes, these trio of sides have had their struggles, but they are not games that Tottenham can afford to take lightly.

Thanks to a brace from Harry Kane, Tottenham saw off bottom-feeders Aston Villa to stay within five points of Leicester City

In fact, one appealing aspect of the Premier League - as opposed to the more predictable and one-sided La Liga - is is that truly, any team can beat anyone. Leicester City have certainly shown that this term. So yes, whilst the Red Devils, the Blues, and the Reds will be likely Tottenham's toughest opponents, Southampton, Bournemouth, Stoke City, West Brom, and Newcastle United could all throw a monkey wrench in their plans.

So, given all this, should Pochettino sacrifice Europa League glory for a shot at the Premier League title? A look at Tottenham's motto l the phrase "Audere est Facere". For those who did not study Latin in secondary school, this translates loosely to "To dare is to do".

As such, with all things considered, and if the club wishes to abide by those very same words that used to printed on their kits, then the answer to that question is a resounding yes.

 

 

Match details, result and original broadcast info

Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 2 Borussia Dortmund

March 17, 2016 4:05pmWhite Hart Lane (London)

This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.

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