Rodrigo Bentancur must step up after yet another injury blow for Tottenham
Tottenham midfielder Yves Bissouma has been ruled out of the final two matches of the season, with Rodrigo Bentancur now needed to step into the breach.
Ange Posteocglou confirmed that the injury picked up by Bissouma in Spurs’ 2-1 win against Burnley on 11 May will rule him out of their remaining Premier League fixtures, leaving a space to fill in the starting XI.
Bentancur replaced the injured Bissouma with 15 minutes to go, and he could well be the player entrusted in the Malian’s role with games against Manchester City and Sheffield United coming up.
Speaking to the club’s website on 13 May, Postecoglou said: “Unfortunately, Bissouma picked up a knee injury in the last game and will miss the last two.”
Rodrigo Bentancur should replace Bissouma for Tottenham
Tottenham had a chance to see what playing Bentancur in place of Bissouma would look like against Burnley after the Uruguayan entered the fray for the injured starter in the 75th minute.
Bissouma had collated a strong 7.0 rating on Sofascore during his minutes on the pitch, while Bentancur registered 6.7 with his late cameo.
The Uruguayan attempted fewer passes (17) than Bissouma’s 49 but did manage a higher accuracy of 88% compared to the latter’s 86%.
One of Bentancur’s failed attempts saw his single attempted long ball cut out by the Burnley defence, while he could only win 50% of his two ground duels and lost possession on two occasions.
However, Bentancur did commit a foul during his cameo, while Bissouma was squeaky clean in this regard, and the Uruguayan also tried a pop-shot from range which was easily blocked by a defender.
Alongside the excellent Pape Sarr (who achieved a 7.4 SofaScore rating) in the middle of the park for Spurs, Bentancur looks the best fit to replace Bissouma in the side, but with reigning champions Manchester City up next on 14 May – chasing a fourth consecutive title no less – he’ll need to improve his own performance if he’s to come anywhere near the output that he managed last time out.
In other Tottenham news, James Maddison will be “angry” with Postecoglou after recent developments in North London
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