Ryan Mason has made three changes to his Tottenham team for this evening's Premier League clash against Manchester United. Last in action on Sunday afternoon, the Lilywhites fell to a humiliating 6-1 defeat away at Newcastle United and it resulted in Cristian Stellini's dismissal 24 hours later.
With Mason now back at the helm after previously taking on the role two years ago following Jose Mourinho's exit, the 31-year-old will be looking for a reaction from his team with Spurs now in a real fight to hold on to one of the European spots on offer. Following the debacle at St James' Park, Mason has elected to switch formation after the very attacking 4-3-3 system Stellini used in the north east was duly punished by the Magpies.
Seeing Hugo Lloris come off with an injury at half-time at the weekend, the Frenchman is not fit enough to make the squad so Fraser Forster comes in for his first start since last month's 3-3 draw at Southampton. After playing with four in defence at Newcastle for 20 minutes before switching things about, Spurs start with a three-man backline against Manchester United.
READ MORE: Ryan Mason outlines what 'probably hasn't been spoken about enough at times' at Tottenham
Cristian Romero and Eric Dier start once again and they are joined in defence by Clement Lenglet after the Frenchman was an unused substitute at Newcastle following the injury he picked up the previous weekend against Bournemouth. Pedro Porro starts in his preferred right wing-back role, with Ivan Perisic starting on the opposite flank as Ben Davies has to settle for a place on the bench.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Oliver Skipp are Tottenham's midfield two as Pape Matar Sarr, who was hooked early on at Newcastle due to the formation issues, drops back down to the bench. In attack, Richarlison is preferred to Dejan Kulusevski and joins Harry Kane and Son Heung-min in Spurs' front three.
Lucas Moura returns to the Tottenham squad after serving his three-match suspension following the red card he picked up at Everton at the start of the month. Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Mason made it clear that he believes his Tottenham side can come away with a positive result.
"Obviously two good teams and United have won a trophy and they have enjoyed a relatively good season," he said when asked about Manchester United's FA Cup semi-final victory over Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend. "We understand that it’s going to be a difficult game but ultimately we are at home and we can get a positive result."
Here is how Tottenham line up against Manchester United this evening:
Tottenham XI: Forster; Romero, Dier, Lenglet; Porro, Hojbjerg, Skipp, Perisic; Son, Kane, Richarlison
Subs: Austin, Sanchez, Tanganga, Davies, Sarr, Mundle Danjuma, Kulusevski, Lucas
READ NEXT:
Ryan Mason discusses relationship with Tottenham stars and respect amid permanent job prospects
Tottenham striker suffers season-ending injury and the hunt for Fabio Paratici's replacement
Tottenham players reimburse supporters who travelled to watch Newcastle debacle
- How Julian Nagelsmann would transform Tottenham and help Daniel Levy after Stellini exit
Daniel Levy's strange message and what the Tottenham chairman will be expecting this week
