Football London’s Alasdair Gold has revealed that he thinks Emerson Royal ‘could well start’ today against Southampton due to his superior fitness levels.
Antonio Conte is stacked at right-wing-back this summer, with Royal, Matt Doherty and new signing Djed Spence also being joined by converted wing-back Lucas Moura. Even Dejan Kulusevski has been used there in the past too.
The first four all got minutes as right-sided wing-backs during pre-season, although Emerson Royal and Lucas Moura were the most regular options.
Gold believes that Matt Doherty could be the number one choice as the season progresses, with the Irishman currently working his way back from an injury – adding that Conte’s comments in his press conference may have hinted at that possibility.
However, the journalist believes Emerson Royal could start the season at right-wing-back for Spurs today against the Saints as he is fit and ready to go.
Gold tweeted: ‘I reckon Emerson Royal could well start tomorrow because of his better fitness levels but I felt Antonio Conte’s answer to my question yesterday about the right wing-backs hinted that Matt Doherty will be his number one in the role.’
In his press conference, Conte said (Football London): “For the right side we have a similar situation like Ivan [Perisic] to Matthew. Matthew had a serious injury and I think worse than Ivan. Now he is working a lot. He has had a bit of time to come back to be fit like last season.
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“I hope to bring him in the same situation as last season as I think Matthew, he played really well. At the moment we need to have a bit of patience. He needs to have a bit of patience but is working very well to be fit quickly.
“Then we have Spence. Spence, I said to you that he was an important investment for the club for the future, he is a really good prospect and young player. For sure it is important for him to understand very well with us to adapt himself to the demands of Tottenham.
“With him, we have to work and have patience. The same for the player. Then there is Emerson. Emerson is fit. Yeah. This is about the wing-backs, the situation. I hope that I was clear to explain the situation.”
Spurs Web Opinion:
I have to agree with Alasdair here. Emerson is the fittest out of the senior options and, as often happens with Conte, fitness will dictate the starting XI. There is no reason why Moura or Doherty won’t be used as more attacking options in the second-half though.
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