Antonio Conte has named a strong Tottenham Hotspur side for their tie on Wednesday at Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup third round.
Spurs face the Premier League's bottom side in the competition with Steve Cooper having made nine changes to the home team ahead of their league clash at home against Crystal Palace on Saturday. For the visitors, Conte wants to ensure Tottenham get through to the next round of the Carabao Cup as an opportunity for the north London club to finally end their trophy drought.
When asked whether Harry Kane would start the match, assistant head coach Cristian Stellini said on Tuesday that Conte would make decisions on a few players based on how much they had recovered by Wednesday morning and the England captain has been named in the starting line-up.
READ MORE: Every word Cristian Stellini said on right time for Djed Spence and Tottenham's style of play
Oliver Skipp starts in a midfield three with Yves Bissouma and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. Richarlison is back on the bench after two training sessions with the team, while Stellini said Spurs would be playing it cautiously with Dejan Kulusevski, who returned to the bench and provided an assist in Saturday's defeat against Liverpool, and the Swede is once again on the bench.
Djed Spence is among the substitutes, disappointing those fans who wanted to see the summer signing in action from the start, with Stellini telling football.london on Tuesday: "We are happy with Djed. Really happy because he works hard, but he needs time and we need to take the right decision for him. Sometimes with young players you have to be careful. If you hurry to use this type of player you can create a problem for them. So when will be the right time, Djed Spence will play."
Another summer arrival Fraser Forster makes his Tottenham debut in goal, while Lucas Moura's problematic inflamed tendon means he misses out and Ben Davies is also out of the squad. although both have travelled with the team.
Here is the team Conte has selected with a strong bench full of attackers to change things in the second half:
Forster; Sanchez, Dier, Lenglet; Doherty, Skipp, Bissouma, Hojbjerg, Sessegnon; Kane, Perisic. Subs: Lloris, Tanganga, Spence, Emerson, Bentancur, Sarr, Gil, Kulusevski, Richarlison.
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