Tottenham Hotspur host Leicester City just a few days after an enthralling FA Cup tie that ended all squares. Mauricio Pochettino’s side currently occupy the coveted 4th spot, 3 points adrift of the 5th placed Manchester United and will be hoping to upset a higher placed Leicester City at home.
Defence- Lloris, Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose
After being rested for the FA cup tie, Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen and Kyle Walker are expected to return to the starting line up. The Alderweireld, Vertonghen combination has been critical to Tottenham’s solid defence, with the side only shipping a mere 16 goals so far and will be hoping to continue with their fine form on Wednesday. The presence of Hugo Lloris in the goal lends added stability to the side freeing up resources to add to the side’s attack.
The defensive unit has worked efficiently in the season gone by and will be keen to continue with their fine form against an attacking threat that consists of the marauding Riyad Mahrez and the free scoring Jamie Vardy.
Midfield- Dier, Chadli, Alli
Pochettino will most probably line up a midfield that will consist of the aforementioned trio with Alli and Dier functioning as the two pivots while Chadli is given the freedom to roam ahead and add to the muscle needed in the final third of the pitch. While Alli has been immense since his move from MK Dons, Dier too has made a stellar progress higher up the pitch after being stuck in the midfield by the Spurs’ manager. He is calm on the ball, has a good set of feet, reads the game like few do and can do the dirty work in the middle of the park without breaking much sweat.
The midfield trio complements each other’s skills with their work rate, skill on and off the ball and the positional awareness making it tough for the opposition to break them down. They will be tasked with the responsibility of containing the hardworking Kante and the magical Mahrez.
Attackers-Lamela, Eriksen, Kane
While Kane has been amongst the goals for the Spurs, scoring 11 goals, once termed flop Lamela is finally beginning to show why the footballing world rated him so high when he moved from AS Roma. The Argentian has created 35 chances apart from finding the back of the net on 3 occasions making him a threat to deal with for the opposition. He will play alongside the consistent Christian Eriksen who remains the fulcrum of his side’s attack.
The former Ajax man has created 49 chances and his chemistry with Harry Kane has made the Tottenham attack a fearsome unit. Leicester, who have shipped the highest number of goals amongst the top 10 teams in the league with 25 goals have a rather susceptible defence that has been masked with by their attacking brilliance and the trio of Lamela, Eriksen and Kane will be keen to expose their deficiencies on Wednesday.
The Tottenham side presents a picture of a side with the right balance with a lot of firepower on their bench to turn the game. With the season getting into the second half, it’s time their quality in terms of players and depths becomes apparent for everyone to see.