Tottenham have handed starts to Djed Spence and Lucas Bergvall for the trip to take on Southampton in a crunch game for Ange Postecoglou.
Postecoglou has said Spurs are facing the biggest injury crisis of his managerial career and, with Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies all out, Spece joins a disjointed defence alongside Archie Gray and Radu Dragusin.
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Pedro Porro has been looking increasingly tired in recent weeks.
Yves Bissouma is banned after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season in last weekend’s 4-3 defeat to Chelsea. Rodrigo Bentancur continues his Premier League suspension so Postecoglou has a big decision over the make-up of his midfield.
Bergvall has been pushing for his first Premier League start after impressing in Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Rangers and Postecoglou obliges.
In attack, Postecoglou has dropped Timo Werner after calling out his “unacceptable” first-half performance against Rangers.
Asked for an update on Romero and Van de Ven, Postecoglou said on Friday: “We probably won't get clarity until next week.
“When guys get injured, without getting too technical, you need to let the injuries settle down before you get the real prognosis, and that will probably be sometime next week with Micky and Cristian.”
Confirmed team news
Southampton XI: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Manning, Fernandes, Aribo, Downes, Dibling, Armstrong, Sulemana
Subs: Lumley, Bree, Wood, Sugawara, Lallana, Amo-Ameyaw, Archer, Fraser, Onuachu
Tottenham XI: Forster; Spence, Gray, Dragusin, Udogie; Sarr, Bergvall, Maddison; Kulusevski, Son; Solanke
Subs: Austin, Porro, Dorrington, King, Hardy, Olusesi, Werner, Johnson, Lankshear
Injured: Van de Ven, Richarlison, Romero, Odobert, Vicario, Davies
Suspended: Bissouma, Bentancur
Doubts: None
Time and date: 7pm GMT on Sunday December 15, 2024
Venue: St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton