As expected, Jose Mourinho rang the changes for Tottenham’s Europa League clash against Maccabi Haifa on Thursday, with only Steven Bergwijn and Toby Alderweireld keeping their places from the side that started the Carabao Cup clash against Chelsea on Tuesday.
However, the team still boasted of plenty of firepower with the likes of Harry Kane, Lucas Moura and Giovani Lo Celso all getting the nod to start.
The home side’s quality shone through as they put seven past the Israeli side to book a place in the group stage of the Europa League.
Tottenham put the game to bed before the interval as they scored four first-half goals, with Lo Celso being the main architect.
The Argentine also showed tremendous composure in front of goal as he netted a brace for the first time as a Spurs player, although he was surprisingly taken off at half-time.
Football.London’s Alasdair Gold has confirmed that the 23-year-old was not rested by Mourinho with Sunday’s match in mind but rather picked up a knock before the interval, which is why he was replaced by Dele Alli.
However, Gold did not reveal how serious the midfielder’s injury is or whether he will be fit in time for the trip to Old Trafford.
Spurs Web Opinion
Even though Gold has confirmed that Lo Celso picked up a knock, he did not seem to be in a lot of discomfort towards the end of the first half as he was still sprinting fine. That suggests that perhaps Jose withdrew him as a precaution and that the knock is not too serious. I still expect him to start on the bench on Sunday with Tanguy Ndombele likely to get the nod.
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