Maurico Pochettino is debating on whether to give a first Premier League start to Lucas Moura on Sunday after his impressive full debut last weekend.
The Spurs manager initially played down the chances of Lucas making a big impact during the second half of this season, following his £24.5million move from Paris St Germain last month.
However the Brazilian’s superb individual performance, crowned with a goal, in the 2-2 draw at Rochdale in the FA Cup last Sunday has got Pochettino thinking ahead of Sunday’s Premier League London derby at Crystal Palace.
Pochettino has gone back to using the 4-2-3-1 system, with Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Harry Kane automatic starters in attack which leaves Heung-min Son, Erik Lamela, Moussa Sissoko and Lucas fighting for the remaining spot.
In all likelihood it would still be for Lucas to be on the bench, as Son has eight goals and four assists in the league this season while Lamela played well in the 2-2 draw with Juventus last week and looked lively when he came on at Rochdale.
However Lucas has so far surpassed the expectations of the coaching staff at Spurs with his condition that despite Rochdale being the 25-year-old’s first competitive start of the season after being cast aside at PSG, he looked particularly sharp. He can now expect to be involved against both Palace and Rochdale, as well as in the return match against Juventus at Wembley on March 7th
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