Off the back of a Capital One Cup victory over Brighton, Tottenham got back to winning ways on Sunday when Harry Kane fired in a deflected free-kick in the 90th minute to beat Aston Villa. This time, it is the Europa League for Spurs, making that three competitions in three games for Mauricio Pochettino’s side. We face Asteras Tripolis, who Erik Lamela has fond memories of facing, famously scoring a rabona in a 5-1 win. Here is the Spurs team news and predicted line-up.
Team News:
Many players have not made the trip to Asteras, all of Emmanuel Adebayor, Younes Kaboul, Aaron Lennon, Kyle Naughton and Nabil Bentaleb are all still in London. Hugo Lloris is out through suspension after picking up a red card last time out against Asteras. As we know, Kyle Walker is a long-term absentee.
Predicted Line-Up: (4-2-3-1)
Goalkeeper: Michel Vorm:
Vorm is set to make his first European start for Tottenham after Lloris picked up a red card last time out in Europe, and Brad Friedel has been left in London. That now makes Vorm almost an odds on certainty to start against Asteras as he aims to impress Pochettino with a clean-sheet here.
Defence: Eric Dier, Jan Vertonghen, Federico Fazio, Ben Davies:
This selection is mainly due to squad rotation, giving Fazio a run-out in the starting line-up following his suspension, and with no Younes Kaboul, it is possible that Jan Vertonghen will take the captain’s armband for the night. It will be interested to see how Eric Dier gets on after his nightmare against Newcastle as he is likely to start as Kyle Naughton has been left at home. Ben Davies has admitted it has been tough so far at Spurs, and wants to push for a Premier League start, and he has the perfect chance to do this tonight.
Midfield (Holding): Benjamin Stambouli, Mousa Dembele:
After a poor series of performances from Etienne Capoue, this could be the perfect chance to capitalise on this by putting in a good performance. If anybody, Stambouli could take his place if Pochettino chooses to leave him out as Stambouli a prepared more to sit back and protect the defence. He will have to play well to stay up the pecking order ahead of Nabil Bentaleb.
Midfield: (Attacking): Andros Townsend, Roberto Soldado, Christian Eriksen:
I feel that Pochettino must start Roberto Soldado in the number ten role if he wishes to continue this trend. It will get him used to playing the position, and it will hopefully boost his confidence and he can start finding the net again. Christian Eriksen was out of form against Villa, hence being substituted at half-time. This is a good chance for Eriksen to rediscover his form, and Pochettino could try him out on the left to see if he can do the same as he did under Tim Sherwood.
Striker: Harry Kane:
Harry simply must start up front for Spurs on Thursday night. The only reason for not starting him would be resting him for our home clash with Stoke on Sunday. Emmanuel Adebayor could start up top on his own, but I feel that Harry needs another start to keep racking up the goals and improving his tally for this season. If Soldado starts, then it would be a perfect time to try out this partnership between the Spaniard and Kane.
