Tottenham Hotspur welcome arch-rivals Arsenal to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday for a fiery North London derby, and manager Ange Postecoglou has confirmed a double injury boost.
The Australian tactician will be able to call upon Micky van de Ven and £55 million summer signing Dominic Solanke this weekend after the pair returned to training.
Van de Ven has been grappling with a knee problem that ruled him out of the defeat against Newcastle United. Solanke was also forced to sit out Tottenham’s last two games after picking up an ankle injury on his debut.
However, Postecoglou has confirmed that both players have returned to training and are in contention to feature in this weekend’s box office contest, with Spurs keen to bounce back from the defeat at St. James’ Park.
Tottenham have picked up just four points from their first three games, but a win against Arsenal will be a massive confidence boost for the Lilywhites.
Here’s how Postecoglou could set up his team for the North London derby with Van de Ven and Solanke back in contention.
Predicted Tottenham Starting Line-up
Guglielmo Vicario will start in goal with a familiar backline of Destiny Udogie, Van de Ven, Cristian Romero, and Pedro Porro ahead of him.
Yves Bissouma has been ruled out of the game after picking up an injury during the international break and could be replaced by Rodrigo Bentancur in the middle of the park.
Bentancur is expected to anchor the midfield alongside Pape Matar Sarr, but Postecoglou could shake things up in the final third.
Wilson Odobert failed to impress against Newcastle and could drop to the bench in favour of Brennan Johnson, who is expected to line up alongside Heung-min Son and James Maddison.
Dejan Kulusevski played as a false nine in the defeat to Newcastle, but he could start the derby on the bench, with Solanke returning to the starting line-up.
Predicted Tottenham XI:
(4-2-3-1): Vicario; Udogie, Van de Ven, Romero, Porro; Bentancur, Sarr; Son, Maddison, Johnson; Solanke.