Southamptonvs.Spurs

The Lilywhites' winless run extended to five matches in Thursday's 1-1 Europa League draw with Rangers, where Cristian Romero (thigh), Micky van de Ven (thigh), Wilson Odobert (hamstring), Mikey Moore (illness), Richarlison (hamstring), Ben Davies (hamstring) and Guglielmo Vicario (ankle) were all watching on helplessly.

All seven will not be available for the showdown with the Saints either, and Postecoglou will also have to work around the suspensions of both Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma, giving him a peculiar midfield conundrum to solve.

Pape Sarr will almost certainly occupy the deepest midfield slot with Bentancur and Bissouma sidelined, while Dejan Kulusevski is also sure to come back into the engine room after his equaliser off the bench at Ibrox.

However, James Maddison failed to cut the mustard in the Europa League, and after Lucas Bergvall's impressive cameo on Thursday, Postecoglou could be tempted to start the Swede on the South Coast.

Defensive absentees means that Fraser Forster, Archie Gray and Radu Dragusin should form the spine of the backline, but Djed Spence is a candidate to come in for the fatigued Pedro Porro on the right-hand side.

Further forward, Brennan Johnson and Son Heung-min should continue in the final third, but Dominic Solanke is sure to replace Timo Werner, whose performance on Thursday received a scathing review from his manager.

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Forster; Spence, Gray, Dragusin, Udogie; Kulusevski, Sarr, Bergvall; Johnson, Solanke, Son

Written by

Ben Knapton