Destiny Udogie spotted with Tottenham squad ahead of kick-off against Crystal Palace
Tottenham have been handed a major boost ahead of their Premier League showdown with Crystal Palace.
Spurs will welcome Palace to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday 2 March as Oliver Glasner prepares for his first away trip in England’s top flight.
The Austrian made a winning start to life as manager at Selhurst Park with a 3-0 victory over Burnley on Saturday 24 February and will be keen to build on that performance in North London.
As for Tottenham, they will need to show their supporters some type of response after they were beaten 2-1 at home by Wolves on Saturday 17 February.
Ange Postecoglou and his players have had two weeks to prepare for their London derby against the Eagles, and this has allowed the Australian some key time to get one of his star players back in training.
Destiny Udogie missed Spurs’ defeat against Wolves, and Postecoglou confirmed in his pre-match press conference ahead of Palace (1 March) that the Italy international had returned to training and was in contention to feature on Saturday afternoon.
And Spurs’ latest post to their official X account (2 March) suggests that the 21-year-old will be a part of the matchday squad, with Udogie one of the players recorded arriving at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium a few hours ahead of kick-off in his matchday gear.
Can Destiny Udogie be the difference against Crystal Palace at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?
Udogie’s return to the first team will be welcomed with open arms by his manager and teammates.
He has been one of Spurs’ best-performing players this season, and the stats back that up.
As per fbref, Udogie ranks in the top 12 per cent of his positional peers in the Premier League this season for the number of progressive passes he has played (5.32 per 90), a key feature of Postecoglou’s attacking style of play.
Defensively, Udogie sits in the 91st percentile of left-backs in England’s top flight this season for the number of tackles he has made (3.07 per 90), with these stats demonstarting his ability both going forward and at the back.
Against Wolves, Ben Davies struggled to fill in for the Italy international and couldn’t provide the same kind of impact. While the Welshman looked solid defensively, going forward he had a day to forget.
As per Sofascore, the 31-year-old made two tackles, one interception, and one clearance while also winning five of his eight ground duels. However, he couldn’t replicate those numbers at the other end of the pitch.
While he did play three key passes among the 89 per cent he completed, he also failed to provide a single accurate cross into the box from the six which he attempted.
In addition, he was unsuccessful with two of his three dribble attempts and missed one big chance late on as he headed Spurs’ opportunity of rescuing a point agonisingly wide of the post from close range.
Postecoglou will be thankful to have Udogie back in his plans, and those in attendance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will hope that the left-back’s name is read out among the other staters an hour before kick-off.
In other Tottenham news, Lilywhite Rose believes one big-money signing is now finished at Spurs.
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