How Will Tottenham Line Up In Anderlecht Rematch?

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After the 2-1 loss against Anderlecht in Tottenham’s third game of their Europa League effort this season just about a fortnight ago, Mauricio Pochettino claimed that the return fixture this coming Thursday was a must win. Tottenham currently sit third in Group J behind Monaco and Anderlecht. This is not a scenario many within the club expected halfway through the group stage.

Tottenham’s Europa League ambitions have for once become just that. Prior tournaments – this is the club’s fifth consecutive appearance in Europe’s second-tier club competition – have been met with a sort of lukewarm enthusiasm by Tottenham. A mixture of starters, benchwarmers and kids would take the field and put up some fairly uninspiring performances as they reluctantly meandered toward the knockout rounds in the spring.

Pochettino changed that mentality this season. He’s fielded surprisingly strong squads in all three games so far. Four points from those games, then, is a surprisingly paltry return.

The strength of those teams was about something more than a simple desire to achieve results. It was also, in part, a reflection of the rolling boil of an injury crisis the club has been dealing with since the beginning of the season. Many borderline bench players like Nabil Bentaleb, Clinton Njie and Nacer Chadli have not been fit to cover for the starting XI in these midweek games.

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There’s also a sense too that those second-team players are oftentimes hard to distinguish between first team players. Such is the overall improved level of quality in this Tottenham side. The cutting out of much of the excess fat accumulated by former directer of operations Franco Baldini has helped. Perhaps most vitally, the promotion and confidence Pochettino has shown in younger players like Dele Alli has allowed more spaces to be filled up and down the lineup. Less youth-oriented teams might struggle with in similar situations.

All that being said, who starts in Thursday’s most important Europa League match so far this season? The strongest starting XI available was named in the 3-1 victory over lowly Aston Villa Monday, and Sunday is the second North London Derby of the season. Pochettino might be forced to rotate.

Let’s speculate together, shall we? The team should lay out in their typical 4-2-3-1 formation, but who goes where?

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