New Tottenham signing Tanguy Ndombele has been ruled out of the Premier League game against Newcastle on Sunday but manager Mauricio Pochettino has said he won’t experiment with his team.
He also said that Giovani Lo Celso was “so far away” from what they can expect from the player after his exertions at the Copa America.
Dele Alli is back in training for Tottenham but the Newcastle game is likely to come too soon for him.
One bit of good news for Spurs is the return of Heung-min Son after he sat out the first two games of the season through suspension.
Goalkeeper
In Paulo Gazzaniga, Tottenham have a brilliant stand-in keeper and he put in some solid performances in pre-season. However, Hugo Lloris is the solid number one and should line-up between the sticks on Sunday.
Defenders
Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld enjoyed a good partnership last campaign and everyone was expecting them to reprise their roles this season. However Vertonghen hasn’t played yet and, in his pre-match press conference, Pochettino didn’t have any words of comfort for the 32-year-old centre-back. As quoted by Football.London he said, “I am only going to decide to try and provide the best players that are in my head to play. If I don’t play for someone it is because I believe there is another in my opinion that is better. This is very clear.” For that reason, we expect Alderweireld and Davinson Sanchez in the middle again, with Danny Rose on the left and Kyle Walker-Peters on the right. Ben Davies is back in training but this game will likely come too soon for him.
Midfielders
Ndombele is a miss but Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko are plenty good enough to dominate the middle of the game. Christian Eriksen – his future still uncertain with the European window open – should play alongside them.
Attackers
Will Son start? That’s the big question for Pochettino but there’s a very good chance the attacker comes straight into the starting XI. Harry Kane is almost certain to be up top and Pochettino is likely to go attacking against a struggling Newcastle side with Lucas Moura on the right.
Key battle
Newcastle right-back Emil Krafth had a terrible debut for the club against Norwich and there’s a chance he might be dropped for the Tottenham game. If he plays he could find himself up against Son and that could prove too much for the 25-year-old Sweden international.
TiF Verdict
Newcastle are playing under a storm at the moment with new manager Steve Bruce under a huge amount of pressure just two games into the season. It’s tough to see him getting anything out of this game, especially if he persists with his 3-5-2 formation.
Tottenham 3 -0 Newcastle
Watch it!
The game is being shown on Sky Sports in the UK and it kicks off at 4.30pm on Sunday.
This is the starting XI we expect Pochettino to put out on Sunday:
