defoe started 2013–14 as a substitute, with newly signed striker roberto soldado starting for tottenham. nonetheless, manager andré villas-boas used him as a first-choice striker for their opening matches in the europa league, and on 29 august he scored his first goals of the campaign in a 3–0 home win against dinamo tbilisi. the result took tottenham through to the group stages via an 8–0 aggregate victory after winning 5–0 in the first leg. on 19 september, defoe scored twice in a 3–0 victory against tromsø in the europa league group stages, taking his tally in europe to within two goals of the record holder, martin chivers. on 24 september 2013, defoe scored another two in a 4–0 win against aston villa in the league cup, which took his tally for tottenham to 139 goals, moving him past george hunt as the club's fifth-highest scorer of all-time. his goal on 3 october against anzhi makhachkala in a 2–0 win took him to one short of the club's all-time record of 22 held by chivers. two further goals, against sheriff tiraspol in two consecutive fixtures in the europa league, saw defoe with 23 european goals, one more than chivers' previous record as tottenham's highest european goalscorer. defoe said chivers had been at the match and had encouraged him to beat his record.