Tottenham XI v Newcastle United: Ange Postecoglou to shuffle midfield with Pape Sarr
Tottenham will be hoping to bounce back from their recent defeat to West Ham as they aim to end a five-game winless streak against Newcastle United on Sunday, 10 December.
After eight wins and two draws in their opening 10 fixtures, Spurs are now winless in five games, only claiming a single point in a 3-3 draw with Manchester City.
The Lilywhites have been handed a boost ahead of the weekend, though. The Magpies will be coming off the back of a heavy defeat to Everton and could be exposed by a highly threatening Spurs side.
While Ange Postecoglou’s injury list is still capable of nearly filling out an entire XI, Spurs will be happy with a couple of new additions from the West Ham game.
It is highly unlikely that Guglielmo Vicario will be dropped despite a serious error for James Ward-Prowse’s winner on Thursday night.
Having just returned from suspension, Cristian Romero headed home his third goal of the season and paired well with makeshift centre-back Ben Davies, with the duo averaging a 95.5 per cent successful pass rate at the back. [FotMob]
Emerson Royal is yet to impress under Postecoglou so Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro will be expected to keep their places in the starting XI. The latter grabbed his fourth assist of the league season, creating five chances and making the fourth-most touches on the team (108).
Pape Matar Sarr made his first appearance since 11 November, replacing Brennan Johnson in the closing stages. Sarr could be given the nod ahead of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. According to Fotmob, the Danish midfielder failed to complete any of the two ground duels he was involved in (0%), meaning that Sarr could come in to create a midfield trio with Yves Bissouma and Giovani Lo Celso.
In the absence of James Maddison, Lo Celso has stepped up well and been the creative force in Spurs’ midfield. Against the Hammers, he managed a 90 per cent pass rate, created three chances and won 100 per cent of his tackles.
Dejan Kulusevski was relatively poor on Thursday night, only managing to complete 22 per cent of his attempted dribbles and winning just 27 per cent of the ground duels he entered. But due to Spurs’ injury crisis, Postecogolou is expected to stick with the Swede in attack.
Brennan Johnson could be handed his 10th start of the league campaign, looking to add to his three goal contributions so far. The Welshman took a total of five shots against West Ham but will need to find the target on more occasions, with his xG only amounting to 0.44.
Heung-Min Son had a quiet night, with just a single shot on target, but his starting role will still be anticipated. The South Korean will hope to hit double-digits for goals for the eighth consecutive Premier League campaign, with most still over half the season yet to play.
The forward limped off the pitch towards the end of the West Ham defeat and could be facing a race to be fit for the weekend. When asked in his post-match press conference about Son, Postecoglou simply replied: “I don’t know. I’m not sure.” [Metro, 7 December]
In other Tottenham news, Spurs are set for a cash injection after FA news was confirmed.