Anticipate European politician popping into sandwich shop (3-4)
I believe the answer is:
pre-empt
'anticipate' is the definition.
(I know that anticipate can be written as pre-empt)
'european politician popping into sandwich shop' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'politician' becomes 'MP' (Member of Parliament).
'popping into' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'sandwich shop' becomes 'pret' (sandwich chain Pret a Manger).
'e'+'mp'='emp'
'emp' put within 'pret' is 'PRE-EMPT'.
(Other definitions for pre-empt that I've seen before include "Acquire before others can do so" , "Forestall, do before anyone else can" , "Secure as first-comer" , "Grab first; forestall" , "Render useless by prior action" .)