Tottenham Hotspur will travel to Belgium to face Royal Antwerp in the second Europa League group game on Thursday [5:55 kick-off].
Spurs made a good start to their European campaign winning the opening game 3-0 against LASK on home soil. Now, the Lillywhites will be looking to make it two wins out of two games when they face Royal Antwerp – who won 2-1 away at Ludogorets in their opening match.
Fresh from a 1-0 victory against Burnley in the Premier League on Monday night, Jose Mourinho will certainly look to rotate his players to ensure everyone is fresh with a clash against Brighton and Hove Albion coming up on the weekend. Here is the team we expect Mourinho to select for the game:
Goalkeeper: With number one goalkeeper Hugo Lloris starting in the Premier League, Joe Hart is expected to feature prominently in the cup games so should start tomorrow.
Defence: Mourinho confirmed that Serge Aurier missed Tottenham’s game at Burnley with a minor injury and therefore it doesn’t make sense to take a risk with the Ivorian when Matt Doherty is available to start at right-back.
Toby Alderweireld should return to his native land and take up the captain’s armband. Davinson Sanchez, who watched the last game from the stands, should partner the Belgian by replacing Eric Dier. Ben Davies could be rested as well, with Sergio Reguilon taking his place at left-back.
Midfield: Harry Winks could be given another chance to impress while Giovani Lo Celso may come into the Spurs midfield in place of Pierre-EmileHojbjerg and Moussa Sissoko respectively.
Gareth Bale is getting sharper with every match and the Welshman is likely to be given some more minutes tomorrow. Erik Lamela made a strong cameo appearance against Burnley and he should be fighting with Lucas Moura for a starting role.
Once again, the future of Dele Alli has come into speculation following his exclusion from the matchday squad against Burnley. The England international could be given another chance to impress, this time from the start.
Forward: With the partnership of Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min blossoming, there would be a temptation to play both, but such is Spurs’ squad depth, they can afford to make as many as nine changes.
Carlos Vinicius made a spectacular debut against LASK and the 25-year-old will be hoping to produce another stellar performance to add more pressure to Mourinho’s selection headache.
Predicted Spurs line-up: Hart; Reguilon, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Doherty; Winks, Lo Celso; Bale, Lamela, Alli; Vinicius.
