After a long summer of transfer speculation nonsense and pain at a Champions League final defeat, Tottenham are back in competitive action on Saturday evening with a home game against Aston Villa.
Spurs will hope to start with three points against the newly promoted side and get the 2019-20 Premier League campaign off to a positive start.
Looking at Villa, it is hard to predict the starting XI that Tottenham will face given the sheer amount of new players Dean Smith’s men have purchased – but former Spurs target Jack Grealish will feature for the visitors.
Injuries and suspensions mean that Tottenham’s side should be more easy to predict, but Mauricio Pochettino has surprised us with his selections before.
Danny Rose and Christian Eriksen, despite speculation over their respective futures, should get the nod to start in the Spurs side.
Of the new signings, Tottenham supporters can expect to possibly see Tanguy Ndombele in the side, although it will be interesting to see if it is alongside both Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko, or at one’s expense.
Right-back is an interesting position, but with Juan Foyth both injured and suspended, and Serge Aurier not match fit, Kyle Walker-Peters should play.
It is an excellent opportunity for the Tottenham youth-team graduate to impress and put a marker in the sand to say he should be first-choice in the position.
In attacking areas, Dele Alli is injured and Son Heung-min is suspended.
Here’s hoping that the new season starts with three points and this predicted starting XI has enough in the tank to beat Villa this evening.
Predicted starting XI vs Villa (4-3-3): Lloris; Walker-Peters, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Winks, Ndombele, Sissoko; Moura, Eriksen, Kane.