Who Should Tottenham Start Against Swansea?
By Ryan Wrenn
The lineup Tottenham coach Mauricio Pochettino chose to field against Monaco in Thursday’s Europa League group stage match doesn’t make the job of predicting Spurs’ lineup against Swansea.
That 1-1 draw was earned with a team largely made up of starting XI regulars, including both first team centre-backs, Harry Kane and – yet again – Eric Dier. Given how strong that team was, the only players we can include in predicting Sunday’s game with any amount of certainly are the two rested full-backs, Ben Davies and Kyle Walker.
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There are two possibilities here. One, that Pochettino is confident that some of his more important players will get a decent amount of rest over the coming international break. Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Kyle Walker have all been called up to the England national team, but with Euro 2016 qualification already locked up it’s a safe bet that there will be plenty of rotation. The Belgian players might not have it as easy as they are still in contention with Ben Davies’ Wales side to top Group B.
Two, Pochettino could give Premier League starting debuts to a small handful of players. Kevin Wimmer could come in for Vertonghen, Clinton Njie for Nacer Chadli or Érik Lamela, and Tom Carroll for Dele Alli. Seeing as how poorly rotation is typically viewed in an especially competitive Premier League, this might not be especially tenable.
Though perhaps Pochettino smells blood in the water. Swansea have scored precisely once since their four games since their exception 2-1 win over Manchester United in late August, losing three of those games. Even a Tottenham team populated by several second-teamers might be able to best Garry Monk’s faltering Swans.
If we are to err, let’s do so on the side of caution. There are simply no easy games in the Premier League these days, especially against those teams you underestimate. Swansea may have had a bad September, but they are still a team with serious threats. Pochettino will likely field another strong side like the one above.
Southampton’s home win against Swansea last weekend owed a lot to the fact that the visiting team was anxious to get something out of the game. They played on the front foot and Southampton largely allowed them to. Ronald Koeman’s men sat deeper than usual, pressed in their usual fashion and forced errors, particularly out of Swansea’s midfield. Their 3-1 victory was well deserved.
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Pochettino might elect to do something similar, especially as the onus is on Swansea to attack on home turf. Don’t expect Tottenham to suddenly concede possession at every opportunity and play exclusively on the break, but Pochettino has shown some willingness to play a more pragmatic game on the road this season.
Given the possibility that Monk might play a three man midfield as he did against Southampton, we will likely see Eriksen dropping slightly deeper than normal in order to keep open outlets for balls being played out of the back via central midfield. Lamela’s tendency to contribute narrow and deep could come in handy again as well.
There’s a chance that Pochettino elects to give Danny Rose another start as André Ayew tends to make the right side of Swansea’s attack fairly narrow. He could link up with Nacer Chadli and attempt to get something out of former Tottenham right-back Kyle Naughton’s tendency to make gamechanging errors.
The opposite flank might be a bit trickier. If Jefferson Montero – assuming he plays – can find some of his early season form again, Kyle Walker will be kept especially busy.
Alli should have another chance to shine ahead of his England debut, but it’s easy to see Ryan Mason starting instead were he fit. While Alli proved his value in central midfield by turning in a good defensive performance against Manchester City last weekend, Mason was well on his way to making that spot alongside Dier his own before the injury that coincided with his game-winning goal against Sunderland sidelined him. He will likely be slotted back into the side as soon as he is fully fit.