Tottenham Hotspur will be without Heung-min Son for their Carabao Cup clash with Manchester City after the winger suffered an injury setback.
Ange Postecoglou confirmed Son is unlikely to feature against Man City and is aiming to return from his latest issue against Aston Villa in the Premier League.
The South Korean’s absence is a huge blow for Spurs as he has a great record against the Premier League champions having won nine of his 19 meetings against them and scoring nine times.
So now Postecoglou will need to assess his options to replace the winger with Timo Werner, Richarlison and Mikey Moore the players he has to choose from.
Timo Werner most likely to replace Heung-min Son vs Man City
Werner looks set to be the player to replace Son in the team over both Richarlison and Moore despite his recent poor performances. The German was hauled off at half-time against AZ Alkmaar as he had a disappointing evening in the Europa League.
Richarlison is an option for the left wing and Postecoglou spoke about that prospect in his pre-match press conference ahead of Man City: “I think Richy has obviously played a lot of his football on the left and he’s definitely an option there for us.
“He’s only just getting his season started so the more we can expose him without overburdening him in the early stages he’ll be able to contribute even more.”
But as Postecoglou points out, the Brazilian is only just returning from injury and his minutes are likely to be carefully managed making him unlikely to start.
Moore made his first Premier League start against Crystal Palace having also been named in the line up against AZ and it feels unrealistic that the 17-year-old will start for a third straight match.
Therefore, with Son and Odobert out, Richarlison’s minutes being managed and Moore not expected to start a third game in a row, Werner is the most likely candidate for the left wing.
How could Tottenham line up vs Manchester City?
In fairness to Postecoglou, he’s got his rotation nearly spot on in the cup competitions so far with the team boasting a perfect record.
Tottenham have won their first three Europa League games and beat Coventry in the third round of the Carabao Cup.
The Australian coach is expected to make changes again but is likely to keep the likes of Vicario, Udogie, Van de Ven, Kulusevski, Johnson and Solanke in the team.
Tottenham’s predicted line up vs Manchester City: Vicario; Udogie, Van de Ven, Dragusin, Gray; Bentancur, Sarr, Kulusevski; Werner, Johnson, Solanke.
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