While Spurs have some fantastic options on paper in the midfield area, Mauricio Pochettino hasn’t quite been able to find the right combination this season.
More often than not, he has decided to play the diamond formation which has meant that only one of Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Erik Lamela have tended to start.
With the club confirming that Eriksen is a doubt for the Watford clash with a dead leg, former Leeds United and Coventry City attacker Noel Whelan has backed Dele Alli to start against the Hornets.
Dele is yet to start a Premier League match this season, with his only top flight appearance coming as a second half substitute in the North London derby against Arsenal (WhoScored).
Whelan also believes, however, that Pochettino could opt to start with Moura instead.
When asked who could replace the Dane, Whelan told Football Insider: “Harry Winks is more of a defensive midfield player who can control the ball from the back, Dele Alli and Lucas Moura are your more likely replacements in that position.
“I think if I was going to go with one…Dele Alli, he really needs to start finding his form to get back to his best as we haven’t seen that for quite some time now.
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“Depending on how he has been training, whether he has impressed, I think you would go with Dele Alli.
“Though you do also have Lucas Moura who on his day is capable of moments of brilliance, it’s just all about what he has seen in training.”
Dele has had a stop-start season owing to his ankle injury and has never got a sustained run in the side.
Meanwhile, summer signing Giovani Lo Celso has also spent most of the season to on the sidelines after suffering a hip injury. While he is now back to full training, it remains to be seen whether he will be included in Pochettino’s squad given his lack of match fitness.
Spurs Web Opinion
It will be interesting to see if Pochettino chooses to go with the diamond or a 4-2-31 as the latter also failed against Brighton. If he employs a 4-2-3-1, then perhaps he could play both Alli, Lamela, and Son in behind Kane but that will see Moura being the unfortunate one to miss out yet again. A lot of Spurs fans seem to want the Argentine to try out a 4-3-3 with Moura, Son and Kane upfront but I do not see that happening.
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