Tottenham Hotspur are set to take a trip to Turkey tomorrow to take on Galatasaray in the UEFA Europa League. Rams Park is never a fun place to travel to and the fans will ensure that Ange Postecoglou’s team are faced with a hostile environment when they visit.
Spurs have had the perfect start to their Europa League campaign, winning three out of three games and only behind Lazio on goal difference. Tomorrow, they face one of the biggest tests in the competition yet and Ange will want his team to pass out with flying colours.
Tottenham are just coming off an impressive second-half display that saw them overturn a 1-0 Aston Villa lead to win 4-1 in the Premier League. It was a very impressive attacking display from Ange Postecoglou’s team and they will want to do more of the same against Galatasaray.
With all this in mind, here is how we think Ange Postecoglou could set Tottenham Hotspur up against Galatasaray for their trip to Turkey in the UEFA Europa League.
Guglielmo Vicario is expected to start in between the posts. The Italian goalkeeper is a solid shot-stopper and is more often than not, very impressive with the ball at his feet. However, he has come under some criticism in recent weeks due to his inability to be dominant in crossing situations and opposition attacking corners.
In front of him, the full-back positions are largely sorted, with Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie expected to start from the right and left side of defence respectively. Postecoglou has the option of giving Djed Spence or Archie Gray a chance but he might not want to do that, especially considering his centre-back partnership on the night.
Micky van de Ven missed the Aston Villa game through a hamstring injury and is expected to be out for the time-being. The unfortunate thing for Tottenham is that Cristian Romero also suffered a foot issue in the game against Unai Emery’s side and is a major doubt for the trip to Turkey. This almost leaves Ange with no options but to start Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies as the centre-back partnership.
Yves Bissouma is expected to come into midfield, after being left on the bench against Aston Villa. Ange could go with a more attack-minded approach of starting both Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison as hybrid #10s against Galatasaray.
Brennan Johnson and Son Heung-min are expected to retain their places on the wing for the game in Turkey. The latter was visibly upset after being taken off early against Aston Villa and will be keen to make amends in the Galatasaray encounter. With Richarlison also out injured, the only other option who could start is Timo Werner and let’s wait and see what Ange does.
Through the middle, Dominic Solanke is likely to start as the number nine and he will be looking to follow up on an impressive display against Aston Villa with yet another goalscoring display against the Turkish side. Let’s wait and see if Tottenham can get past Galatasaray on the night and give their fans more moments to cherish.
