Tottenham predicted line-up vs Leicester- two debuts and a bold new attacking tactic
Tottenham will begin their 2024/2025 Premier League seaosn away at Leicester hoping for all three points.
Tottenham’s journey to challenge for the Premier League title will start at the King Power Stadium on monday night, with manager Ange Postecoglou speaking to the press on Thursday. He confirmed that midfielder Yves Bissouma would not be part of the game due to an internal sanction placed on him.
Bissouma posted a video of himself on social media on Saturday, which showed him inhaling from a balloon. He has since apologised for his severe lack of judgment. As a result, he will not be involved in the game, opening the door for highly-rated midfielder Lucas Bergvall to potentially make his debut.
Bergvall was signed in January, but he has only recently linked up with his teammates and has enjoyed a decent pre-season, so it’s expected that he will be given his debut at some point during the game.
Additionally, there is record signing Dominic Solanke, who is expected to start the game right away. Manager Postecoglou confirmed that he is happy with what he has seen so far from the former Bournemouth man and also said Solanke would be ready to go on Monday night.
Postecoglou said of Solanke’s first days at the club: “Thankfully, it is what we expected. He is a top pro, a good guy, and he has settled into the dressing room really well. Football-wise, you can see he has the attributes that fit into what we want to do really well. There is still an adjustment period, as we play a little differently and train differently, and we have seen that with every new signing that comes in. So far, he has fit in really well with the group and training. We still have a couple of sessions to go, but so far, so good.”
On the likelihood of Solanke starting, the Spurs boss said: “Yeah, he should be.”
So that makes two certain debuts, with Spurs expected to play ultra-attacking football, featuring club captain Son Heung-min on the left, cutting in, with Richarlison, who bagged 11 goals last season, also starting on the left.
Below is LondonWorld’s predicted team for the game:
Vicario; Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie; Bentancur, Sarr, Maddison; Kulusevski, Son, Solanke
Tottenham Hotspur have suspended Yves Bissouma for their opening match of the season after he filmed himself taking nitrous oxide on social media this week.
Possession of nitrous oxide, where a person intends to wrongfully inhale it for a psychoactive effect, is now an offence since last November under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Bissouma, 27, previously apologised for his actions, stating that there was a “severe lack of judgement.” During his pre-match press conference ahead of Monday night’s clash, Ange Postecoglou was clear in his words, highlighting that some “trust-building” is needed between Bissouma and the group.
“I’ve been in the game for a long time and I’ve always tried to look at them in a couple of different ways. He’s made a really poor decision. You want to understand that and help him through that.
“As a club, what we can do is make sure he does not make those kinds of choices in the future. Within that context, there are also sanctions involved. Some of those sanctions include education, giving him an understanding of what he did was wrong,” the former Celtic manager said.
“You always want to give people an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. The second part of that is that he’s a footballer at this club. He has responsibilities for the club, his teammates and our supporters. He’s failed in those duties, so he will not be available for Monday; we’ve suspended him.
“Beyond that, there’s some trust building needed between me and Bissouma and Bissouma and the group. That’s what he needs to work hard on to win that back. He’s going to have to earn that. Hopefully, the door is open for him and we can help him to realise that the decisions he makes impact more than just him.”
When asked how he rebuilds trust, Postecoglou said: “Behaviour mate. It’s quite simple — him making better choices moving forward. He’s obviously disappointed and he was very apologetic, but that’s just the first part of the process. The next part is that he does the things we need to do. We all make mistakes; it’s how you come back from them.”
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