Wembley atmosphere even better than at White Hart Lane, says Harry Kane

Harry Kane has insisted that Tottenham Hotspur have no reason to fear playing at Wembley as they attempt to recover from last week’s 1-0 defeat in the first leg of their last-32 Europa League tie against Gent and that the atmosphere there is even better than at White Hart Lane.

Tottenham return to their temporary European home on Thursday to face the Belgian side aware that their disappointing performances in the Champions League mean they will be under heavy pressure to prove they do not have a mental block about Wembley. Spurs’ failure to qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League owed much to home defeats against Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco, prompting Moussa Sissoko to suggest it would be better for them to stage their Europa League matches at White Hart Lane.

Kane mounted a strong defence of Wembley, however, and said Tottenham cannot use it as an excuse. While the striker admitted the tight surroundings at White Hart Lane can intimidate opposing teams, especially on big European nights under the lights, he said he has no problem with Wembley, which has sold out for the visit of Gent.

“White Hart Lane is obviously a lot smaller and the crowd are on top of you,” Kane said. “But at Wembley it is even better, to be honest with you. Even though the fans are not as close to the pitch, having 90,000 there is incredible. I think it’s a full house again, so hopefully we can use it to our advantage.”

Although Tottenham took time to acclimatise to Wembley, spluttering badly against Leverkusen and Monaco, they got a monkey off their back with December’s 3-1 win over CSKA Moscow. That dominant victory secured their place in the Europa League and showed that Mauricio Pochettino’s players can excel there.

“I don’t think the stadium was to blame, we just had two bad games,” Kane said. “There have been other stadiums where we have played badly against teams as well. Of course, people will try to use Wembley as an excuse but we definitely won’t be looking at it like that.

“We won the last time we played there, so we have to use that. We have our stuff on the walls, like Tottenham sayings and Tottenham pictures. We try to make it as much of a home as possible, so we have no excuses.”

The bigger concern for Tottenham is their insipid performance against Gent on 16 February. Five days after a defeat by Liverpool that dented their title challenge, they stuttered again in Belgium and will need to be at their best in order to reach the last 16.

Tottenham got back to winning ways against Fulham in the FA Cup on Sunday, cruising into the last eight, thanks to Kane’s hat-trick. Yet they lacked focus against Gent, who are eighth in the Belgian top flight, and were fortunate to lose by a single goal.

Pochettino said he could smell that something was up after less than a minute at the Ghelamco Arena. He knew his players were not at their usual intensity level, which raised Gent’s belief of pulling off a surprising result, and chose to wait until half-time before trying to spark an improvement with tactical alterations, but Jérémy Perbet’s winner arrived in the 59th minute and Tottenham could not shake off the rust.

“When we start a game, if you only watch 50 seconds and you know there needs to be a change, it’s OK, we may struggle and will have some problems in that game because we weren’t focused,” Pochettino said. “In that moment it’s too difficult to change. We changed the formation at half-time to try to lift them but it was impossible.”

The key for Tottenham will be to make a strong start on Thursday and trust that their talent will ensure their progression, although Pochettino stressed that Spurs must maintain their composure and shape. Aggression is vital but so is patience. If Tottenham lose their discipline, Gent’s chances of scoring a potentially decisive away goal will improve.

“We need a very good balance,” Pochettino said. “Your question is very good as we need a balance between attack and defence. Because it is only 1-0 from the first leg, now we have time to turn. We need to be clever, play well and improve our performance from the game in Belgium. That will be key, to be aggressive and be patient.”

A tense Wembley evening awaits Tottenham, although Pochettino said his players have not been practising penalties. “You can shoot 100 penalties here without supporters and when it arrives the moment that you take the ball with 90,000 fans you start to shake,” he said. “Penalties is not about practice. It is about personality and character and conviction to shoot and score.”

Tottenham (probable, 3-4-1-2) Lloris; Alderweireld, Dier, Vertonghen; Trippier, Wanyama, Dembélé, Davies; Eriksen; Kane, Alli.

Gent (probable, 3-4-3) Kalinic; Mitrovic, Asare, Gigot; Foket, Dejaegere, Saief, Esiti; Simon, Perbet, Milicevic.

Referee Manuel De Sousa (Por)