Tottenham Hotspur travel to West Ham United this evening for what is sure to be a tense London derby, and here’s the line-up we think Antonio Conte will start with at the London Stadium.
Spurs are enjoying an unbeaten run in the Premier League so far, with ten points from their opening four games. A cagey 2-0 win away at newly-promoted Nottingham Forest at the weekend sees Tottenham head into the midweek fixtures in third place in the table.
West Ham meanwhile, have had a stuttering start to the campaign. The East London outfit secured their first win of the season at the weekend with a 1-0 victory over fellow strugglers Aston Villa.
This London derby comes at a crucial time for both clubs then, with Spurs looking to continue their impressive start to the season against a West Ham side who have finished in the top seven for the last two years.
West Ham, too, will be eager to climb the table after a slow start, and a win against Tottenham is always an added incentive for the Hammers.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte is known to prefer consistency with his team selections, and very rarely makes changes for the sake of it. That said, there are a few spots in the starting eleven that are up for contention.
Conte will more than likely stick with his favoured 3-4-3 formation, and this is who we think will make the cut for the Italian’s starting XI tomorrow.
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Lloris (C); Sanchez, Dier, Davies; Royal, Hojbjerg, Bissouma, Perisic; Kulusevski, Son, Kane
The one change to the line-up we expect to see from Sunday’s win at Forest is the introduction of Yves Bissouma in place of Rodrigo Bentancur. The Uruguayan midfielder suffered a concussion in the last game and is unlikely to be risked (Evening Standard).
This would mark the full debut of Bissouma, after his move from Brighton in the summer. It would be interesting to see what his partnership with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg looks like in such a big game.
After another eventful cameo appearance at the weekend, Richarlison is knocking on the door for a place in the starting XI. Conte has even stated “in the next few games” the Brazilian will be in the starting line-up (Football.London).
Nevertheless, for a big London derby, we think Conte will stick with Heung-Min Son, who has been out of sorts so far this season. The Spurs boss has a lot of faith in the South Korean star, and isn’t going to be quick to drop him just yet.
Should Son fail to make an impact in the first 60 minutes, you can bet that Richarlison will be sent on from the bench to see if he can mix things up. Another good performance tomorrow and Richarlison should be nailed on to start against Fulham on Saturday.
Finally, Cristian Romero, who the club announced had joined on a permanent transfer today, should travel with the squad for the fixture after recovering from injury (Spurs Official).
However, with Davinson Sanchez deputising admirably of late, Conte will be reluctant to rush Romero back. We expect the Colombian to retain his place in the back three alongside Dier and Davies.
The match will be available on BT Sport at 7:45 pm (UK time) on August 31, 2022.
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