Tottenham starting XI vs Newport County: Pochettino has Arsenal in mind

Tottenham Hotspur return to action on Wednesday night with the FA Cup fourth round replay against Newport County to play at Wembley.

Spurs drew the first leg 1-1 at Rodney Parade, with a late Harry Kane strike getting the side out of trouble.

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has stated that with games against Arsenal and Juventus to play over the next week, he is ready to shake-up his starting XI.

“We are going to rotate the starting XI, for sure,” Sky Sports quote him as saying.

“I cannot tell now, like always, but of course we need to rotate, we need to use players that don’t play too much. We are having a very busy period, and we need everyone fit and available to play.”

Tottenham fans and players are desperate for silverware and the FA Cup represents an excellent chance to fulfil this objective, but Pochettino will need to manage his squad given the magnitude of upcoming games.

Lucas Moura will not feature due to being ineligible, while the majority of the starting XI that played out a 2-0 win over Manchester United and 2-2 draw against Liverpool will surely be rested.

Players returning from injury will most likely get the chance to feature, with the likes of Harry Winks, Danny Rose and Toby Alderweireld in the Tottenham squad.

However, reintroducing the Spurs centre-half gradually will be key, with the Belgian a critical player for the club as the business end of the season approaches.

Tottenham fans will be confident that a team made up of predominantly fringe players has more than enough quality to beat a League Two side, but there may well be a few first-team regulars that are forced to play.

The fact that Spurs do not have huge amounts of strength in depth means that Davinson Sanchez and Son Heung-min have been included in my predicted starting XI for tonight’s game.

With Arsenal in mind and coming into focus, giving the likes of Jan Vertonghen, Eric Dier, Mousa Dembele, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane the night off – despite the risk of an upset – makes the most sense.

Predicted Tottenham starting XI vs Newport (4-2-3-1): Vorm; Aurier, Foyth, Sanchez, Rose; Winks, Wanyama; Lamela, Son, Sissoko; Llorente

1 thought on “Tottenham starting XI vs Newport County: Pochettino has Arsenal in mind”

  1. “Spurs don’t have strength in depth”.. LOL. 9 of the players layers in your team didn’t start on Sunday vs Liverpool. Most of them look pretty “strong” to me

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