‘Bissouma on the bench’ – Ex-Spurs Scout predicts Tottenham XI v Crystal Palace
Tottenham News is delighted to welcome aboard our brilliant new columnist Bryan King, the former goalkeeper who spent six years as a senior scout at Spurs and 28 years in total in first-team scouting roles. Bryan also spent eight years on Everton’s recruitment team and 11 years scouting at Aston Villa across two different spells.
Tottenham will travel to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Friday 27 October but could be without one key player.
During his pre-match press conference (quotes via Football London, 26 October), Ange Postecoglou revealed the club were “going to assess” the fitness of Destiny Udogie ahead of the clash with Palace.
Udogie has started all nine of Spurs’ league matches this season, and his absence could be a real blow to the team.
With that in mind, ex-Spurs scout Bryan King has spoken to Tottenham News and offered his predicted starting line-up for the trip to Selhurst Park.
King believes that Postecoglou will stick with the team that beat Fulham 2-0 at home last time out, with the only exception being Ben Davies coming in for Udogie, should the Itallian not be fit enough.
“I imagine the goalkeeper and the back-four will remain the same, barring of course that question mark over the fitness of Udogie. If he isn’t available, then I would trust Davies to come in for him, especially in a London derby, I think he would enjoy taking on that role and he is certainly capable of doing it.
“Emerson Royal is also capable of filling in for Udogie, he came on in his place against Fulham, although he did get caught out a couple of times. However, if Udogie is fit, then I would of course start him.
“I would leave the midfield as it was against Fulham. It is a winning team so I would leave Yves Bissouma on the bench, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg did a good job and this game against Palace is not a place for faint hearts.
“I would also keep the front three the same, but Richarlison has got to start thinking that Brennan Johnson and Bryan Gil are both available.
“Overall I would like to keep the same team that beat Fulham, but there are question marks over Udogie, Hojbjerg and Richarlison. However, I think Postecoglou likes continuity and he certainly doesn’t like to change winning teams, so I think the team will stay the same.
In other Tottenham news, social media footage has revealed one injured Spurs star could be nearing a return to action.