Palop wary of Tottenham

Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop is well aware of the threat Tottenham Hotspur could pose when the two sides meet in the Uefa Cup quarter-final on Thursday, despite their lack of success in recent seasons.

Palop believes it will be a great occasion and knows that the high-flying Spaniards will have to raise their game to prevent any surprises.

Tottenham travel to the Sanchez Pizjuan for what is arguably both teams' biggest tie of the campaign so far, and Palop has revealed that the hosts have been doing their homework.

"Even if Tottenham have not made great waves in Europe in recent years, we know that they are a club with a lot of history and the fans know how important this quarter final is," he said at a press conference at the club's training ground.

"I think the supporters will be really looking forward to this and it will be a special night.

"We watched their last game in the league on television and they have a strong midfield and up front they have (Dimitar) Berbatov, who is a very important player for them.

"(Robbie) Keane is an international striker and is very quick. They have a solid team and it will be very tough, although we are all prepared for it.

"We want to avoid any surprises."

In the last round, Sevilla had to fight back in the second leg against Shakhtar Donetsk after drawing the opening tie 2-2 in Spain.

This time, Palop is keen to avoid that situation and believes that his team must focus on keeping a clean sheet and taking any lead they can to White Hart Lane next week.

"It is always difficult to do, but it is very important that we do not concede a goal at home and we have to score at the other end.

"We have to then go to their ground and we want to take a lead with us and then try and add to it there."

The Uefa Cup is just one of three pieces of silverware available to Juande Ramos' team this season, as they are still in the Copa del Rey and hot on the heels of Barcelona in the league.

"Everything is still open to us. We are enjoying the battle for three trophies and we all feel that we can win them, but actually doing that is a different story.

"The team is coping very well with the large number of games at the moment and the coach keeps rotating the players, so everyone is feeling good."