It’s nearly time for us to travel to North London for our final local derby of the season, but which players our hosts field for the lunchtime kick-off remains unknown.
Injuries, and the Champions League are expected to see Mauricio Pochettino field a weakened side against us by the Evening Standard, with their upcoming semi-final clash with Ajax tipped to be their main priority.
Pochettino is not projected to go crazy with his teamsheet, though, as a top-four finish is very much still on the line for Spurs. Heung-Min Son is also suspended in the Champions League, so cannot feature against the Dutch outfit that eliminated Juventus in the previous round.
As such, the Evening Standard have placed the South Korea international in their predicted starting XI, and have him lining up against Pablo Zabaleta, with the Argentine expected to occupy our right-back slot.
On the opposing flank is thought to be Christian Eriksen with Lucas Moura dropped from the starting XI. Meanwhile, Dele Alli is expected to move up from the left of a three-man central line-up to occupy the attacking midfield slot.
As for Moura’s space in the XI, Eric Dier is pencilled in to fill the void and act as the out-and-out defensive man alongside Victor Wanyama, with Pochettino shifting from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1.
The defence, on the hand, only has one change in Danny Rose missing out to Ben Davies, while Fernando Llorente is likely to continue as their lead man having stepped in for Harry Kane with the England striker potentially out for the season.
If Pochettino does go down the 4-2-3-1 route the Evening Standard have predicted, it will be the eleventh time he has done so this season in the Premier League. Spurs have won eight of the ten encounters using that system to date, and have a plus-12 goal difference.
Tottenham are also yet to concede at their new stadium, having kept Crystal Palace, Manchester City, Huddersfield and Brighton at bay, so far. They are not expected to keep up that record this weekend, however, as the Evening Standard also suspect we will be capable of doing what Pep Guardiola’s side were not, and beat Hugo Lloris.
Unfortunately, their predicted score sees us come out 2-1 losers, which would hand Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Bournemouth the chance to move above us in the table.
