By 90min | Created at 2024-10-29 21:33:01 | Updated at 2024-11-05 03:54:14
6 days ago
It was another miserable away day for Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham on Sunday, and the manager will be keen to see another response from his side on Wednesday night.
While Spurs will not be facing up against the strongest of Manchester City XIs in this Carabao Cup fourth-round tie, a win over the champions will elicit plenty of good feeling around N17 and see the home side into the quarter-finals of the competition.
The Lilywhites are going strong in the Europa League, but many would regard the Carabao Cup as Spurs' best chance to break their trophy duck this season.
Thus, this is a big game for Postecoglou, especially after Sunday's dire outing. Here's the team the Spurs boss could pick for City's visit in the cup.
Tottenham have a tough assignment in the Carabao Cup fourth round / Warren Little/GettyImages
GK: Guglielmo Vicario - Fraser Forster got the nod against AZ last Thursday and was involved in the third-round win over Coventry, but Vicario is likely to start on Wednesday given the importance of this fixture.
RB: Pedro Porro - Formerly of Man City, Porro performs a key creative function in this Spurs team and will be pleased to know that injured pair Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku are unlikely to feature.
CB: Radu Dragusin - There are murmurs of Dragusin's discontent over game time, but what did he expect? The centre-back won't earn too many starts while Cristian Romero is fit, but this could be an opportunity for him.
CB: Micky van de Ven - Romero/Dragusin is a partnership that lacks balance, but the Dragusin/Van de Ven combination works. It'd make sense for the Dutchman to start on Wednesday if Postecoglou opts for the Romanian in favour of vice-captain Romero.
LB: Archie Gray - Destiny Udogie needs a breather and Ben Davies is the obvious candidate to come in. However, teenager Gray has to be playing in games like these and we could see him on the left for City's visit. The summer arrival has the capacity to play at left-back, as we saw against Ferencvaros.
CM: Rodrigo Bentancur - Postecoglou has rotated between Bentancur and Yves Bissouma in recent outings, with the latter getting the start on Sunday. There's bound to be a change in midweek with the Uruguayan returning to the base of midfield.
CM: Pape Matar Sarr - Sarr has been underused by Postecoglou this season, with the Senegalese international playing a key balancing role in the middle of the park. Spurs are always more prepared to deal with the transition with Sarr in the team.
CM: Lucas Bergvall - We haven't seen too much of the hugely talented Swede at the start of the new season, and he was once again an unused substitute at the weekend after starting against AZ. Supporters would appreciate Bergvall's return to the XI on Wednesday.
RW: Brennan Johnson - Johnson's hot streak concluded against West Ham, and he's drawn a couple of blanks since. Postecoglou could call upon Mikey Moore or Dejan Kulusevski down the right, but Johnson may get the nod again for his ability to run in behind. Wilson Odobert will be an option off the bench.
ST: Dominic Solanke - Richarlison struggled in the second half against Crystal Palace while Solanke was arguably Spurs' best performer. With Postecoglou likely to hide the 4-4-2 - hopefully forever - Solanke should start ahead of the Brazilian for this big cup tie.
LW: Son Heung-min - There are doubts over the captain's status given that he missed Sunday's defeat, but Son has not picked up a major injury and should be involved on Wednesday or by the time Aston Villa come to town at the weekend.
