Aston Villavs.Spurs

The on-loan Bayern Munich man was an enforced change in the first half of Thursday's 4-0 EFL Cup loss to Liverpool, as the unfortunate Richarlison sustained a fresh calf injury at Anfield.

The Brazilian is now one of 11 confirmed absentees for Spurs, who are also missing Guglielmo Vicario (ankle), Radu Dragusin (knee), Wilson Odobert (hamstring), Dominic Solanke (knee), James Maddison (calf), Micky van de Ven (fitness), Destiny Udogie (hamstring), Cristian Romero (thigh), Timo Werner (thigh) and Brennan Johnson (calf).

With both Solanke and Richarlison sidelined, Tel is surely the next best thing in the number nine position, unless Ange Postecoglou sees fit to start club captain Son Heung-min up front instead.

Such an approach would open the door for Mikey Moore to start in attack, but Postecoglou should persist with Son and Dejan Kulusevski on the wings given the calibre of opposition.

However, at least one change will surely be afoot in midfield, where Pape Sarr was showing signs of fatigue in the defeat to Liverpool, so Lucas Bergvall could now join forces with Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur.

Archie Gray has also played a lot of football in recent weeks and could be swapped out for Pedro Porro; Postecoglou now has more scope to rest the teenager thanks to Kevin Danso's arrival from Lens on loan.

The Austrian will guard Antonin Kinsky's goal with Ben Davies once again, while Djed Spence - one of the few players to come out of Thursday's loss with his head held high - should reprise his left-back role.

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Kinsky; Porro, Danso, Davies, Spence; Bissouma, Bentancur, Bergvall; Kulusevski, Tel, Son

Written by

Ben Knapton