Tottenham play the final game of the midweek Premier League matchday as they take on Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium. Spurs’ inconsistencies have come to the fore in recent weeks with the only victory from their last five fixtures being the 4-0 demolition of Manchester City.
Injuries have certainly not helped matters with the spine of Postecoglou’s team currently missing. Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero are all dealing with issues while Rodrigo Bentancur, just as he was getting into a good spell, was hit with a seven-game ban by the FA for racist comments towards captain Son Heung-min.
Richarlison, Wilson Odobert and Mikey Moore are the forwards to have missed some action recently with Dominic Solanke also a doubt to feature against his former club after not being named in the squad that drew to Fulham last Sunday because of illness.
With that being said, the Lilywhites have been left very light in certain areas which has resulted in the same players being used. Fatigue was likely one of the reasons Dejan Kulusevski was benched over the weekend and Postecoglou now faces a big decision in midfield.
Yves Bissouma is expected to remain as the No.6 but only two of Kulusevski, James Maddison and Pape Matar Sarr can accompany him in the engine room. Given the task that awaits, deploying both Maddison and Kulusevski in midfield seems unlikely, but the latter could still start in place of Brennan Johnson out wide.
Sarr featuring meanwhile, appears very likely with his running power and engine a huge asset Postecoglou could certainly do with against the Cherries. And it looks as though that could prove to be the case with Tottenham dropping a huge hint Sarr will be involved.
Alongside Timo Werner, Fraser Forster and Ben Davies, with the latter almost guaranteed to start, Sarr is featured on Spurs’ matchday graphic which frequently includes players set for a prominent role in the game.
Such is the current state of the Premier League table, a win for Spurs could move them up to fifth. Meanwhile, a victory for Bournemouth would take them above Postecoglou’s side with it possible they drop down as far as tenth if Fulham also beat Brighton.
