AVB exit gives Spurs greater chance of reaching Europa League final

Having a managerial change mid-season has proved a decent strategy for Tottenham previously in terms of reaching cup finals and this could be a reason for backing them each-way at 8/1 to win the Europa League.

The last two instances of a new manager being introduced mid-season at White Hart Lane has seen Juande Ramos win the League Cup and then Harry Redknapp get to the final of the same competition.

Whoever replaces Andre Villas-Boas at Tottenham could continue this record in the Europa League, with Coral offering the top industry price on Spurs winning the competition.

The draw for the last 32 of the competition pits Tottenham against Ramos, who is now in charge at Ukrainian side Dnipro.

Should Tottenham get through against opposition that were beaten twice by Fiorentina in the Europa League group stages, a last-16 meeting with either Benfica or PAOK lies in wait.

Swansea are the other Premier League representatives in the draw and things cannot have gone much worse, as Michael Laudrup must prepare his side to face Napoli.

The result in the Europa League betting is that Swansea have drifted to 40/1 from 16/1, which may also be partly down to Porto or Eintracht Frankfurt being their opponents, if they dump out Napoli.

Juventus remain the favourites to win the Europa League at 4/1, with Trabzonspor up next for the Serie A leaders in the round of 32.

Spanish clubs have won five of the last 10 finals in the competition and also had two losing finalists in this time. This bodes well for the prospects of one of Valencia, Real Betis or Sevilla.

Valencia are 20/1, but face a tricky tie with Dynamo Kiev next, which could mean Sevilla are the team to side with.

Sevilla are also 20/1 but have arguably the weakest team still alive in the Europa League in the last 32, where they will face Slovenian outfit Maribor.