Ange Postecoglou drops £15m player as 23-year-old starts… Tottenham predicted XI vs Man City

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Ange Postecoglou faces Tottenham Hotspur’s biggest game of the season so far against Manchester City tonight.

The Aussie will be bidding to end Spurs’ long wait for silverware and knocking Pep Guardiola’s side out of the FA Cup would hand him an improved chance of doing just that.

Tottenham picked up a 3-3 draw at the Etihad Stadium in early December thanks to a late Dejan Kulusevski leveller. Postecoglou’s squad was depleted on the day as he was without the likes of James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Pape Matar Sarr. 

And while he will welcome back all of the above barring Sarr, he will be without Heung-Min Son and Yves Bissouma, with the trio currently on international duty.

The Spurs boss opted for a midfield three of Oliver Skipp, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur in the 2-2 draw at Manchester United 12 days ago.

But after Postecoglou yesterday confirmed Maddison is ready to start following an ankle injury, we believe Hojbjerg will drop to the bench this evening, with Kulusevski returning to the starting XI. 

Tottenham predicted XI vs Manchester City

Guglielmo Vicario looks set to continue between the sticks and it would be a surprise to see any changes made to the backline.

Van de Ven and Romero returned to the starting line-up at Old Trafford last time out and we’d expect them to continue at centre-back.

Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie are likely to get the nod in the full-back positions.

The midfield is where we are likely to see a significant change, with Maddison returning to the starting XI.

Hojbjerg could drop to the bench while Postecoglou may opt for Rodrigo Bentancur and Oliver Skipp to play alongside Maddison. 

The £15 million Dane stepped up last time out at United but Skipp and Bentancur were particularly impressive on the day. 

We expect Kulusevski to start off the right-hand side after the 23-year-old has recovered from the illness which kept him out at United.

Richarlison has been in fine form and looks set to continue his run in the side. Brennan Johnson has struggled of late but he caused City plenty of problems back in December.

The 22-year-old may well get the nod over Timo Werner, despite the German’s encouraging debut 12 days ago.

Here is out Tottenham predicted XI for the FA Cup fourth-round clash against City in full.