Premier League

Whiteman in running to face PSV

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Image for Whiteman in running to face PSV

Tottenham rookie Alfie Whiteman is in contention to start the club’s Champions League showdown against PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday night, according to Mauricio Pochettino.

The Spurs manager revealed at his media conference on Monday that the goalkeeper, 20, could replace the suspended Hugo Lloris in the starting XI.

Asked who will replace the France World Cup winner in goal for the must-win Champions League clash, Pochettino surprised journalists by naming the never-before-seen youngster.

“There are three different options,” Pochettino said, as quoted by Football London. “Michel Vorm, Paulo Gazzaniga and Alfie Whiteman. I still haven’t decided who is going to play. But sure it will be one of the three names. Each has a 33 per cent possibility.”

OPINION

It would certainly be a turn-up for the books if Whiteman was given the nod to start against PSV ahead of Gazzaniga and Vorm. Lloris is the undisputed number one, but there is growing interest as to the identity of his deputy following evidence that ex-Holland international Vorm is no longer that man. It was Pochettino’s fellow Argentine who got the nod to start in last Wednesday’s League Cup win over West Ham, and he appeared to have leapfrogged the older man in the pecking order. Whiteman has featured on the bench before, in this season’s win over Brighton and in last season’s Premier League match against Crystal Palace, when Gazzaniga played as Lloris and Vorm were out. Before that he was named on the bench for the League Cup tie against Gillingham in 2016 and has been named in the squads for both of Tottenham’s past two US summer tours. The 6ft 2in youngster (source: Transfermarkt) is highly regarded, but it would be an upset if he was fast-tracked into the line-up for the first time in such a high-profile match.

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