Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Leicester City

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Sunday 10th February 1.30pm
Premier League
Wembley Stadium​

A narrow victory over a well organised, hardworking Newcastle team has been followed with a short break.
They've been increasingly rare this season and the next week is another compact one.
First up is the visit of Claude Puel's unpredictable Leicester side.
They're capable of losing to Newport and Cardiff or beating City and Chelsea, plus drawing with Liverpool.
Can we contain the counters or will we get hit with some painful breaks?

As a former Arsene Wenger player, it may be expected that Puel would take a similar view to management.
Their time together at Monaco doesn't seem to have impacted this particularly Frenchman's approach, however.
Grit and graft are the calling cards of his style and it's earned him results, if not many neutral fans.
Southampton sacked him after he finished 8th and got them to a cup final.
It may not be surprising that similar rumours have surfaced at Leicester, despite a fairly healthy league position.

The Foxes are going to remember this season for one thing and it won't be the football that they've seen.
That would almost certainly be the case regardless of who was in the dugout though, unfortunately.
The tragic death of their chairman will overshadow everything this year and it probably should, too.
I'm sure that many will be thinking of him when tribute is paid to Emiliano Sala on Sunday.

Our trip to the King Power Stadium earlier in the campaign was largely forgettable, apart from a few moments.
A depleted side huffed and puffed through a flat first half, with one eye on the upcoming trip to Barcelona.
Heung-Min Son woke everyone up just before the break with a magnificent strike to break the deadlock, though.
He combined with Alli after an hour to kill things off, crossing well for his teammate to head home.
A marginal offside decision went our way and the home side rarely looked like getting back into it:

The game at Wembley last season was the chaotic, unpredictable ending to our first year there.
The scoreline swung wildly, as both side fielded some unfamiliar faces and both defences were on holiday.
Harry Kane had the final, deciding say, as he took his league tally to 30 for the season and grabbed the points:

Alli, Kane, Davies, Janssen and Dier are unavailable, though the latter only has a virus.
Albrighton and Amartey are out for the visitors. Neither side has any suspensions.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Trippier, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Vertonghen; Sissoko, Winks, Eriksen; Lamela, Son, Moura.
Subs: Gazzaniga, Walker-Peters, Foyth, Rose, Dier, Wanyama, Llorente.
League form: LWLWWW.

Leicester: Schmeichel; Pereira, Evans, Maguire, Chilwell; Mendy, Ndidi; Gray, Maddison, Barnes; Vardy.
Subs: Ward, Morgan, Fuchs, Choudhury, Ghezzal, Iheanacho, Okazaki.
League form: LWLLDL.

Referee: Michael Oliver.

TV: Sky Sports.

How should we approach this one, given our absences and the upcoming Dortmund game?
Should we be looking to rest anyone or rotate heavily, as we have another Sun/Wed/Sat week?
Which system should we start with and should we be doing anything special to deal with their style of play?

 

A game for Tielemanns to step up and prove his worth

 

Diamond formation with Llorente up top, Flanked by Son and Moura with Eriksen behind.

Sissoko ( or maybe Wanyama, and save Sissoko for Wednesday ) and Winks midfield.

Defence of KWP, Toby, Jan, Rose

 

KWP (but it will be Trippier) Toby Jan Rose
Winks
Sissoko Eriksen
Moura
Llorente Son

 

Pretty sure we need a goalkeeper too...

 

Hugo/ Gazza
Toby, Dave, Jan
KWP, Dier, Sissoko, Rose
Eriksen
Llorente, Son

 

No Paul Stewart.
Again

 

I think Dier is ill for this one mate, unfortunately. So Skipp/Sissoko starting tomorrow and Winks/Dier in midweek would be my thinking.

 

George Marsh'll probably be on the bench again, then

 

****ing cowardly approach.

 

Me and teen beast on tube to the football morgue ....still excited though.... COYS

 

We'll need at least 2 goals to win today cos Vardy usually scores s blinder against us.
Could be the day that a record is broken....

Or our long run without a draw ends or our farcical run of home games without a penalty ends...sorry ... came over a bit liverpool there

 

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Not the strongest of line ups. I can’t work out how we’re setting up in midfield either.
Winks and Skipp holding? Sissoko our wide?

Looks very much like we’ll be relying on Sonny.

 

The bench is very defensive too.

Other than Moura there’s nothing on there that can change a game.

 

Pochettino trying to make the diamond midfield happen still, I reckon.

Vardy's on the bench though, apparently, which is good for us.

 

Not entirely sure how that lineup fits together, unless its a diamond, which has had mixed results for us. I imagine this means Lamela starts against Dortmund?

 

Hard to tell if it's 433 or 4231.

Skipp, Winks, Sissoko
Eriksen, Llorente, Son

or

Skipp, Winks
Sissoko, Eriksen, Son
Llorente

 

Would've preferred Aurier starting if we're playing a midfield diamond, as he'd be a better out ball that Trippier