Tottenham Hotspur return to Premier League action as they welcome West Ham United to north London this afternoon.
In Antonio Conte‘s absence, assistant manager Cristian Stellini will be looking to end a run of back-to-back defeats in all competitions with a result on home turf against the Irons.
The Italian guided the side to an impressive win over defending champions Manchester City only a few weeks ago, so the Lilywhites remain in good hands.
It’ll be interesting to see what sort of XI he selects, with several key stars either absent through injury or underperforming massively.
How will Spurs lineup vs West Ham?
There could be as many as four changes from the 1-0 defeat to AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Hugo Lloris remains out, so Fraser Forster will continue as Spurs’ no.1 for the time being, though he could see a different back three, with Ben Davies and Davinson Sanchez set to return to the fold, replacing Cristian Romero and Clement Lenglet.
The wing-backs should stay the same, largely due to injuries, whilst Stellini will be able to welcome back Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, having served a suspension in Europe in midweek.
There is then a big call to make on who partners him in the absence of both Rodrigo Bentancur – who is out for the remainder of the season – and Yves Bissouma.
Some reports suggest that Oliver Skipp is set to get the nod over Pape Matar Sarr, despite the latter being the more dynamic and versatile choice.
In attack, Harry Kane and Dejan Kulusevski could be joined by £90k-per-week “warrior” Richarlison, who comes in to replace underperforming £22m dud Heung-min Son.
He was recently slammed as being “so far off the boil” by talkSPORT’s Jamie O’Hara and “sloppy” by journalist Dan Kilpatrick.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian has started only five Premier League outings since his £60m move in the summer and he is yet to start in 2023, so we could finally see him unleashed from the off today.
Predicted Spurs XI (3-4-3): Forster; Davies, Dier, Sanchez; Perisic, Hojbjerg, Skipp, Emerson; Richarlison, Kulusevski, Kane
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