Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs confidence should be high but sadly some of that will have been lost with the news their keeper Vicario faces a prolonged period on the touchline after fracturing his ankle. Whilst it’s unlikely he would have played in this fixture; the impact of Vicario’s absence is likely to have a detrimental impact on Spurs results over the coming weeks.
Spurs have scored the most goals this season in the Premier League, playing fluid, high-tempo football that has won plaudits from fans and pundits alike. This match against Roma offers an opportunity for the manager to rotate his squad and provide game time to fringe players, while also maintaining the momentum that has been crucial to their success so far.
Key players like James Maddison and Son Heung-min have been instrumental in Spurs’ resurgence, but it’s likely that this Europa League fixture will see younger talents such as Archie Gray, and Lucas Bergvall take centre stage, whilst the veteran Fraser Forster will be between the sticks.
Just how much rotation Postecoglou makes will be key to the outcome of this game. If the core of the team from the Manchest City game takes to the field then a home win is extremely likely but with Fulham in the league on Sunday to come the Australian may shuffle the pack. It may be worth waiting until the team line ups come out before making your decision.
Roma
AS Roma have had a poor start to the season and during the recent break fired their manager, Ivan Juric. The Croatian coach had only been in charge since September, taking the reins after Daniele de Rossi was sacked. Roma turned to Ranieri for his help once again, and the 73-year-old Italian is now in his third spell of being in charge of the club, this time having stepped back out of retirement to do so.
Ranieri’s first game in charge was a 1-0 loss to Napoli and with little time to prepare Claudio will take his troops to London knowing that he will need to work some magic to get a result. Roma’s results in the Europa League have been moderate at best with just one win from their opening games but also just one defeat. They will know they need to improve on this in the second half of this season’s group stages if they are to make it to the knockout phase.
Key Players
Tottenham Hotspur: Spurs have two creative attacking midfielders in James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski who can give any side a problem. Typically, Postecoglou only plays one of them through the middle at any time but on occasion at home has deployed both together. Kulusevski has been in consistently good form this season and played a crucial role in assisting the opening goal for Spurs at the weekend. Maddison’s form has been patchier this season but he delivered a man of the match performance against Man City where he scored twice. Check the team news but if either of these players start this match then they are likely to play a central role.
Roma: Pablo Dybala picked up a knock in Roma’s home defeat to Bologna at the start of the month and only managed the last few minutes of the game at the weekend against Napoli. With doubts over Dybala’s fitness the focus will be on the Ukrainian striker Artem Dovbyk who will lead the line for Roma. He has scored four times this season after his €38 million summer move from Girona and is likely to give a makeshift Spurs defence a difficult evening.
Tottenham Hotspur v Roma – Thursday 28th November 8pm
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