LONDON -- Ange Postecoglou said his Tottenham Hotspur team are full of belief they can book their place in the Europa League final after defeating Bodo/Glimt 3-1 in Thursday's first leg and said the eventual scoreline was not reflective of his team's dominance.
Spurs put themselves in a great position to progress to the Europa League final after goals from Brennan Johnson, James Maddison and a Dominic Solanke penalty gave them a healthy lead, only for Ulrik Saltnes to score late on to give the Norwegian side something to build on when they welcome Postecoglou's side next week.
The win also saw Maddison and Solanke forced off in the second half, but Postecoglou says the early prognosis suggests neither knocks are serious.
It was a near-perfect evening for Postecoglou and offers Spurs the chance to finish the season on a high against the backdrop of a dismal campaign in the Premier League where they lie in 16th place.
"It puts us in a good position," Postecoglou said of the win in his post-match news conference. "I thought the players were outstanding. Our performance was everything it needed to be: well-organised defensively, calm going forward, creating good opportunities for ourselves and maintaining pressure.
"They scored the late goal which doesn't reflect our dominance, but if we repeat that performance next week, it'll be enough for us to get through."
Postecoglou opted to start Richarlison on the left of Spurs' attack, while Yves Bissouma started in midfield after Lucas Bergvall injured his ankle in training on Wednesday.
Postecoglou wouldn't give a prognosis on Bergvall's injury and said they'll give it a couple of days to calm down before assessing how severe it is. There were further injury concerns against Bodo/Glimt with both Maddison and Solanke leaving the field injured.
"[Maddison] felt a tweak in his knee, but doesn't sound like it's anything serious and Dom felt something in his quad, but I don't think it's anything too significant," the Spurs boss added. "It was just wise to take him off at that point."
Spurs now head to Bodo/Glimt's ground in the Arctic Circle next week, and will tackle the Norwegian's artificial pitch.
"Look, it's artificial grass, but it's still a game of football," Postecoglou said. "I know the experience. We need to replicate what we did today. Irrespective of the surface, if we're organised with and without the ball, it won't matter what the surface is, it'll make it difficult to stop us."
Bodo/Glimt manager Kjetil Knutsen said their late goal gives them a great opportunity to progress to the final. "The goal is really important," he said. "First of all you see when Tottenham conceded, they were really disappointed, they lost energy and it gave us a lot of energy.
"If you ask me, we should've gone for the second goal. We can take the energy from this game into the next game and it's different for us to play at home."