Ange Postecoglou will be forced into making a change to his Tottenham team on Sunday afternoon when Aston Villa visit N17. Falling to a 2-1 defeat in their last match against Wolves, Spurs were dealt a blow in the first half of the contest in the West Midlands after Yves Bissouma picked up his fifth yellow card of the season.
The midfielder will now have to watch on from the sidelines against Aston Villa due to his one-match ban and he will not be available again until the following week when the team travel to Man City. As well as deciding on his Bissouma replacement, the Australian may want to make a couple of other alterations as Tottenham look to return to winning ways.
So who exactly could come into the Tottenham XI as the Lilywhites aim to put an end to two Premier League defeats on the trot? football.london takes a look below at the changes Postecoglou could make for the Aston Villa encounter.
Udogie for Emerson
Destiny Udogie will be in contention to feature for Tottenham against Aston Villa after serving his one-match ban following his red card against Chelsea. The Italian left-back was a huge miss in the previous game at Wolves and Postecoglou will be desperate to bring him back into the starting XI.
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Absent from the Italy squad during the international break as a precautionary measure following his recent injury, the player will have had a good period to try and fully recover from his muscle issue. If indeed he has and is in a position to start at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it is an absolute no-brainer for Postecoglou and that will mean Emerson Royal drops back down to the bench.
Bentancur for Bissouma
Postecoglou will have to do without Bissouma this weekend as the ex-Brighton & Hove Albion ace is suspended for the game after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in the defeat at Wolves. The Spurs boss does have plenty of options to replace the Mali international, with Rodrigo Bentancur, Giovani Lo Celso and Oliver Skipp all available to him.
Sunday’s game against Aston Villa could indeed see Bentancur handed his first Tottenham start since February following his long injury layoff. Building up his fitness in recent weeks with minutes off the bench for Tottenham, the Uruguayan did start for his national team on Tuesday evening against Bolivia and played 86 minutes in total.
Marcelo Bielsa’s decision to play Bentancur from the off very much proves that the Tottenham man is certainly now in a position where he can start games once again for Spurs.
The 26-year-old did impress in his time on the pitch as he helped his country to a 3-0 win as he recorded a 92 per cent pass success rate, completed two of his dribbles and won eight of his 11 duels. Operating in the No.6 role and knitting things together for his team, Bentancur could be a like-for-like replacement for Bissouma come Sunday against Aston Villa.
He did go close to adding a second for Spurs, with Jose Sa tipping his rasping drive over the crossbar. Rather defensive in midfield against Wolves and not taking the game to their opponents, Postecoglou really needs to bring in an attacking midfielder to help Spurs out in the final third.
Lo Celso, who registered an assist for Argentina against Brazil in midweek, is the obvious choice and the player will be hoping that his first Premier League start of the season comes his way. If Bentancur comes into the team to replace Bissouma, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg may be the player to make way for Lo Celso if Postecoglou chooses to start the Argentine.
