Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou will soon face a number of huge dilemmas following confirmation of a key fixture. Spurs have won nine of their last 11 games across three different competitions with hope they can continue their 100 per cent winning record in the Europa League on Thursday against Galatasaray.
In the last seven days, Tottenham have beaten both Manchester City and Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup and Premier League, respectively. However, the Lilywhites have been handed three big injury blows in that time with Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Richarlison all suffering issues.
Van de Ven will not feature in Turkey because of a hamstring injury with Postecoglou giving updates on the latter duo. “From the weekend, Richy unfortunately injured his hamstring so I’m still getting the final information but I think he’ll be out for a while. Romero, I think nothing too serious, hopefully still a chance for the weekend,” he said.
Confirming two new issues, the Spurs boss added: “Timo Werner has been carrying a bit of a groin complaint, which is still there, so he didn’t travel, and Mikey Moore picked up a bit of a virus yesterday, so we’ve left him at home as well. I think everyone else who’s fit and eligible is here.”
Wilson Odobert is also still absent which means Spurs will be without two centre-backs and four attackers that can all play at left wing. Given Spurs are regularly playing twice each week, Postecoglou will need to use the full complement of his squad over the coming months.
That is currently very hard to do in the centre defence and out wide however, with Ben Davies, Radu Dragusin and Son Heung-min the only natural fit options for those two roles. As such, Son starting the fixture against Galatasaray looks very likely despite only playing 55 minutes this past weekend on his way back from injury.
That is just one dilemma facing Postecoglou in the immediate but there looks set to be even more going forward with a particular fixture announcement sure to cause some dilemmas. On Thursday, December 19, Spurs will host Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-final.
Just three days later, Spurs welcome Liverpool to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with it clear Postecoglou may need to decide on his priority. Given the desire to win a trophy, going strong in the hopes of reaching a semi-final will be tempting but the league is of course the main focus.
By that point, Postecoglou will be hoping the injury issues he is currently dealing with are no more, as it is important for minutes to be carefully managed in that period. Even before the hectic run of games around Boxing Day and the new year, Spurs must play seven games.
Ange Postecoglou recently took a trip down memory lane to remind everyone of his stellar track record of winning trophies in his second season at previous clubs.
The jury is still out on whether the Australian can repeat that success in England, but the win against Man City certainly has Spurs fans dreaming of their first piece of silverware since 2008.
Riding the momentum of their morale-boosting triumph, Tottenham made it consecutive wins after coming from behind to beat Aston Villa 4-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Their frustrating inconsistency reared its ugly head when Morgan Rogers gave Villa the lead.
However, a phenomenal second-half display saw Spurs turn the game on its head via goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison on either side of a Dominic Solanke brace.
Heading into Thursday’s Europa League clash against Galatasaray, Postecoglou is expected to ring the changes to his starting line-up as is often the case.
But he’d still demand more of the same from his side, keen to maintain their perfect start to the Europa League.
We’re expecting Postecoglou to make up to seven changes to the side that thrashed Villa on home turf, with Maddison returning to the starting line-up for the first time since the Palace defeat.
Guglielmo Vicatio starts in goal, while Archie Gray, Radu Dragusin, and Ben Davies form the makeshift back four, with only Destiny Udogie retaining his spot.
Maddison should line up alongside Yves Bissouma and the highly rated Lucas Bergvall in a revamped midfield, while Timo Werner replaces Son Heung-min to partner Solanke and Johnson in attack.
Predicted XI
(4-3-3): Vicario; Udogie, Davies, Dragusin, Gray; Maddison, Bissouma, Bergvall; Werner, Solanke, Johnson.
