please log in to view this image Sunday 26th November 2pm Premier League Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Perisic, van de Ven, Maddison, Sessegnon, Solomon, Richarlison and Whiteman are all injured. Phillips came off injured during England U19s win against Mexico. Romero and Bissouma are banned, while Udogie returns from his, but may not be fit. Villa have no suspensions. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Vicario; Porro, Dier, Davies, Emerson; Hojbjerg, Bissouma, Sarr; Kulusevski, Son, Johnson. Subs: Forster, Phillips, Dorrington, Skipp, Bentancur, Lo Celso, Gil, Donley, Veliz. League form: WWWWLL. Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konza, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Luiz; McGinn, Tielemans; Diaby, Watkins. Subs: Olsen, Chambers, Lenglet, Moreno, Dendoncker, Traore, Zaniolo, Bailey, Duran. League form: WDWWLW. Ref: Rob Jones. VAR: Jarred Gillett (AUS). He's crap at it and is reffing Luton v Palace on Saturday. TV: Sky Sports. How would you like to line up for this one and how do you think we actually will line up?
We're forced to start Bentancur given the absentees. I can't see our defence keeping them out so this could get quite messy but I'm hoping the crowd carries us through. In general I'd like to see Kulu moved into a central position and Porro pushed into RW, but I doubt we'll see that. It'll probably be 433 again: Vic Porro Dier Davies Udogie Sarr Hojbjerg Bentancur Kulu Son Johnson We're down to the absolute bare bones and there is no one on the bench who can change the game which is a huge concern.
Such a mixed bag on this one. In "season compass" terms, this game is a "free throw" (as we lost last season) , so I would action to utterly go for the throat. However, given the injury plague + now on a two loss run, another loss could be bad for morale. With Udogie back, will it be a Dier/Davies CB pairing ?? Can we play in Argentina home kit to deceive GLC into finally fronting up for 90 mins in a Spurs game ??
I would tend to agree although equally we do have a couple who potentially could given a chance: Gil and Veliz - although the former continues to flatter to deceive in the occasional cameos.
Gil just isn't cut out for the PL. Painful but true. I've said it from day one. Up there with the very worst transfer deals we've ever made. In hindsight, keeping the £30m and Lamela was by far the better option.
Bentancur started the second game from Uruguay over the break and played 86 mins but I still think it could be a bit too early for him to be in the starting XI for us in the Prem, although we really are down the bare bones and it might be a case of having to start him. If he can’t start/ Ange doesn’t want to risk it, time to give that demon, Donley, a go. He’s been mixing up his positions this season for the 21s including playing as a CM in a Maddison-esque way, feels about time we start putting some faith back into the academy, especially after the form the likes of Donley and others have been in.
If you only considered Donley for home games, until the return of all the injured, that immediately halves the starts that Bentancur would have to endure for a while. Getting to the new year and being well within striking distance of the top 4, I suspect will be the biggest test of squad management that Ange has had to face.
Gil works against teams that play open football - but as demonstrated against Wolves' UFC tactics he is easy to bully off the ball as he doesn't have that little bit extra skill, speed or sheer bloody-mindedness to keep hold of the ball, which is why he basically disappeared within a couple of minutes of coming on The links to Samuel Iling Jr for January don't bode well for Gil's longterm prospects
Hopefully Sarr is fit and we can do a midfield of Sarr Bentancur Lo Celso or Sarr PEH Bentancur If he’s not then Bentancur PEH Lo Celso But I worry we’d miss Sarr’s dynamism because he’s been so good on the right of the midfield 3. Defence is a tricky one too. Porro, Dier and Udogie pick themselves from the available. I suspect it’ll be Davies as LCB but wouldn’t mind trying Dorrington.
Villa fans are licking their lips at the thought of Ollie Watkins going up against Dier & Davies Silly Villa fans, surely they should be licking their lips at what the eunuch with a whistle will let Matty Cash do to our players without bothering to do anything about it
Tottenham all banged up this weekend, but still the offense could pull this one out. Thinking there should be at least 5 goals scored between the two clubs in this one with Tottenham pulling it out 3-2.
