Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou set to snub Brennan Johnson v Aston Villa in ‘strange’ selection twist
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou is unlikely to restore Brennan Johnson to the starting XI against Aston Villa despite his cameo against Crystal Palace, according to Alan Hutton.
The Welshman, who joined in a £47.1million move from Nottingham Forest [Sky Sports, 1 September], has had a mixed first season in North London as he has repeatedly been in and out of Postecoglou’s side and struggled for consistency.
However, Johnson changed the game from the bench in the win over Palace, assisting both Timo Werner and Son Heung-Min’s second-half strikes as Spurs came from behind to beat the Eagles 3-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
While Hutton was impressed with the 22-year-old’s excellent cameo, he thinks Johnson will have to settle for a role on the bench as Postecoglou will continue to use him as an impact player against Unai Emery’s side.
“It’s a strange one isn’t it?” Hutton told Tottenham News.
“He has done really well but some part of me still thinks that he won’t start because you’ve got the likes of Kuluvseski, Son’s been playing up top, Maddison, Werner who gives you that pace and they’re looking really strong up top.
“Johnson gives you that as well, but he’s obviously young and sometimes when you’re young you have up and down performances. He’s moved to a big club from Forest so the pressure is on him to perform week in and week out.
“There’s room for him and there’s time for him to be an impact player, but long term that’s not what he wants. He wants to be playing regularly week in and week out and he definitely has that ability.
“Yes he played really well when he came on, but I still think outside of a couple of changes that was probably near his strongest-ever team.”
Will Ange Postecoglou start Brennan Johnson for Tottenham against Aston Villa?
Spurs and Postecoglou are blessed with a number of attacking options currently and while that is excellent for their Champions League push, it means that somebody is always going to be left out of the starting XI.
Werner appears to have found his feet in North London and Son Heung-Min is now almost undroppable given his impressive goal return this season. That leaves only one space for three or four players to fight over.
Johnson showed Postecoglou that he is more than worthy of a starting role on Sunday, but Dejan Kulusevski also impressed and has been a regular under the Australian.
It feels unlikely Postecoglou will make too many changes for one of Spurs’ biggest games of the season.
In other Tottenham news, Daniel Levy is preparing a transfer exit plan for Tanguy Ndombele to be sold this summer
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