Antonio Conte will have to freshen up his Tottenham Hotspur side in some way for their Champions League trip to face Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany.
Spurs had barely been able to digest their North London Derby defeat at Arsenal before flying out 48 hours later for their European tie in Frankfurt. On top of that when Tottenham touch down back in England on Wednesday after the previous night's match they will have to prepare quickly again to travel to Brighton for Saturday's late Premier League game.
Tottenham will be without Dejan Kulusevski and Lucas Moura for the match in Germany, although Conte said that Ben Davies is back from injury to take his place on the bench. The Spurs boss may be reluctant to play all three of his forwards in Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Richarlison as none of them would then be fresh to face Brighton at the weekend.
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Unless he suddenly decides to turn to Bryan Gil for the first time this season, the Spurs head coach could instead change formation to a 3-5-2 to keep one of the front men on the bench. That would mean either Yves Bissouma or Oliver Skipp coming into the starting line-up, or both if Conte decided to rest Rodrigo Bentancur, who played the full match at the Emirates Stadium.
Ivan Perisic was chosen to speak to the media on Monday, which would suggest he will be involved. Conte could bring Ryan Sessegnon into the team with his fresh legs, with Perisic on the right, or he could use the England U21 international at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
Emerson Royal will be suspended that day after his red card against Arsenal but the Brazilian is available to play in the Champions League. The Tottenham boss must decide whether to use him in order to keep someone else fresh for Saturday or give another player the minutes they need to get sharper for the coming matches. Conte seemed pretty clear that it would not be Djed Spence when asked by football.london on Monday out in Germany and he did not speak too glowingly about Matt Doherty's current level either.
In central defence, Davinson Sanchez could come into the back three to rotate with one of Saturday's trio, although the Colombian was spotted limping out of the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
If Conte sticks with most of the team that started against Arsenal then he will need to use his substitutes earlier during the match in Germany.
Here's the Tottenham team we reckon Conte will select:
3-5-2: Lloris; Sanchez, Dier, Lenglet; Emerson, Bentancur, Bissouma, Hojbjerg, Perisic; Kane, Son.
Who gets into your starting XI? Use our team selector below and leave a comment to have your say
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