Ange Postecoglou has a big decision to make in midfield ahead of Tottenham’s Premier League match against Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Ange Postecoglou, who had a selection difficulty against Wolves last time out, could have another quandary when Tottenham return to action on Sunday. Aston Villa are the visitors to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and the game promises to be an exciting one, with both sides in contention for a top-four finish after strong starts to the season.
Spurs will be missing Micky van de Ven and James Maddison due to injuries, as well as Cristian Romero, who is serving the second game of a three-game suspension. Midfielder Yves Bissouma will also miss the game against the Villans due to suspension.
The Mali international was shown his fifth yellow card of the season in the 2-1 defeat at Wolves prior to the international break and will now miss Sunday’s encounter. Postecoglou is now missing two of his three first-choice midfielders, leaving the Tottenham manager with a huge decision to make in the middle of the pitch on Sunday afternoon.
Postecoglou must guarantee that he gets more from his midfield than he did at Molineux. Maddison’s absence was crucial, and Tottenham suffered as a result, as they lacked a player to assist connect up midfield and attack, as well as make things happen in the final third.
While the inclusion of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the starting XI was perhaps unsurprising given his excellent performance off the bench in Tottenham‘s defeat at home to Chelsea five days earlier, it did leave Tottenham without anyone who could really influence things going forward, and they instead looked rather defensive.
Giovani Lo Celso, the man best suited to Maddison‘s job, could have helped alleviate the situation, but he was left on the bench, and the game came too soon for Rodrigo Bentancur to start after his lengthy layoff due to injury. 15 days after that setback in the West Midlands, and with the Uruguayan receiving some more minutes in the tank for his country during the most recent international break, this might be the game when Postecoglou unleashes the 26-year-old from the start.
Due to the severity of Bentancur‘s ACL injury at Leicester City, Spurs have been building up his fitness through cameo appearances off the bench, including the 4-1 defeat against Chelsea, where he got a good 40 minutes or so due to the amount of added time. With his playing time for Uruguay against Argentina last week and possibly some more minutes against Bolivia on Tuesday evening, Bentancur should be close to starting games for Tottenham again shortly.
For quite some time, the player has been keen to play more, admitting in an interview with Uruguayan radio station Sport 890 three weeks ago that his recuperation was going well and that he was ready to return before the date Spurs had set.
“During my rehabilitation, I did not suffer. Throughout the process, the knee responded very well to all stimuli and increased loads. “They only took my fluids three times,” he explained.
“Over the last two months, my subconscious began to win because I was already prepared to play.” They modified the deadlines to avoid relapses; they asked you to stay for nearly nine months and didn’t want me to return until November 21.”
Bentancur was a vital player in Tottenham‘s midfield previous to his injury, helping the team secure a Champions League berth and contributing numerous goals. He can be a gamechanger for the Lilywhites once again. But all of that will come when his minutes grow and he starts games.
That might be the case against Aston Villa on Sunday, especially with Bissouma in attendance. Pape Matar Sarr, who has been a regular since missing out on the opening day at Brentford, appears set to start.
Bentancur and Sarr have only played together once in their Tottenham careers, in the closing few minutes of the recent 2-1 win at Crystal Palace, when the former made his comeback after over nine months on the sidelines. Postecoglou can unleash a completely new Tottenham partnership if both start against Aston Villa on Sunday, despite not playing in the same XI last season and with Bentancur replacing Sarr off the bench in the last two games.
If Lo Celso is given the nod to start in the more advanced midfield role with the pair behind him, it will undoubtedly be a fresh new midfield combination. If not, Bentancur might be the attacking midfielder, with Sarr and one of Hojbjerg or Oliver Skipp playing slightly deeper.
Whereas Bentancur and Hojbjerg are used to playing alongside one another in Antonio Conte‘s Tottenham team, the only time the pair have played in a trio involving Sarr came in the dying minutes of the Crystal Palace match, so it is effectively a brand new midfield partnership. Given the absences of Maddison and Bissouma against Aston Villa this weekend, a new midfield trio and Bentancur‘s first Spurs start since February could be on the cards.
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