We asked Alasdair Gold and Rob Guest, our Tottenham Hotspur correspondents, to provide us with an early guess as to which lineup Ange Postecoglou will choose.
In the Premier League, Tottenham will finally return to action on Saturday afternoon when they host Crystal Palace.
Spurs’ league match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was rescheduled for a later date in the season due to Chelsea’s participation in the Carabao Cup final last weekend. This meant that after the humiliating Premier League loss to Wolves the weekend before, Ange Postecoglou would not be able to train with his team for two weeks.
Oliver Glasner will now lead his squad to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday after winning his first game in the dugout with Palace. Before Postecoglou gives his team news, we asked our Spurs correspondents Alasdair Gold and Rob Guest to speculate about who they think will start for Tottenham this weekend. These are the teams they think will win.
Alasdair Gold, a reporter covering Tottenham Hotspur
After two weeks of training on the Hotspur Way pitches, Spurs need a little shake-up since they were so uninspired against Wolves. Postecoglou’s team will benefit greatly from Destiny Udogie’s return to training, though it’s unclear at this point if Pedro Porro will recover in time as well.
Pape Matar Sarr and James Maddison are vying for the position of anchor man in the midfield, and Postecoglou has to make a decision. James Maddison and Yves Bissouma are more likely to hold onto their positions because of their offensive prowess.
Richarlison had a difficult game against Wolves up front, and with his noteworthy absence from training videos and pictures in recent days—possibly recovering from a knock—Postecoglou would be compelled to play Son Heung-min in the middle if he wasn’t going to otherwise. Timo Werner and Brennan Johnson would then compete to join the team.
The players in Gold’s team are Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison; Kulusevski, Son, Werner; Emerson, Romero, Van de Ven, and Udogie.
Rob Guest: Football writer When Tottenham plays Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon, Postecoglou will need to make a few choices for his team. The first is at right-back, where Pedro Porro’s availability is uncertain heading into the weekend.
Unless, of course, he is eager to play at home against the Eagles following his Wolves absence, it could be prudent to allow the Spaniard another week off the field to ensure he is fully healthy for the crucial match against Aston Villa on Sunday. Emerson Royal takes the starting right back position if Porro is to miss an additional week of activity.
The next move made by the head coach is in midfield, where James Maddison, Pape Matar Sarr, and Rodrigo Bentancur are vying for a spot between them. Bentancur might get the go-ahead after coming off the bench to take a break against Wolves.
Finally, Richarlison’s absence in the training film and images that have been made public this week suggests that Postecoglou may need to make a call in the front three. In the event that the Brazilian is not totally fit, that might allow Timo Werner to return to the starting lineup, with Son Heung-min shifting over to play through the middle.
Team of the guest: Vicario; Bentancur, Sarr, Maddison; Kulusevski, Son, Werner; Emerson, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie.
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