Who Mourinho Starts in His Tottenham XI for Crystal Palace
By Aaron Coe
Tottenham Hotspur take on Crystal Palace with an opportunity to maintain first place in the Premier League, this is the team we believe José Mourinho will start.
Only 13th in the table, with16 points Crystal Palace is closer to Tottenham in 1st than 18th place Burnley down in the relegation zone. To look at Palace’s position in the table and think that means Tottenham will have their way with the Eagles would be foolhardy. A London derby on the back of the North London Derby, just three days before taking on Liverpool sounds like a potential trap José Mourinho and company would like to avoid. Here is the team we think the coach will use to avoid the trap and trounce Palace.
Tottenham Midfielders
It seems like we always start with the offense or defense, but like José Mourinho and the formation on Thursday, we want to mix things up a bit. The one thing we know is that it was not injury, rather “his turn to rest” which held Pierre Højbjerg out on Thursday and the Dane should be back and ready to go at the base of the Tottenham midfield, next to his pal Moussa Sissoko. The real question is if Giovani Lo Celso will continue in the #10 role after his fine run of form after lots of minutes over the last two weeks.
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (CM)
Pierre Højbjerg finally got a night off against Antwerp midweek. It was good Mourinho left him out as he would have most certainly brought the Dane on as one of his five changes had he been an option. Instead Højbjerg should be refreshed and ready to go for another big stretch for Tottenham and it starts with taking care of business against Crystal Palace. As we have seen this season, there are few better in the business than Pierre.
Moussa Sissoko (CM)
Moussa Sissoko has really slotted in as the first-choice midfielder next to Pierre Højbjerg. For someone whose popularity in the club caused the coach to say an expletive when he first arrived, Sissoko is an example of how Mourinho’s mind can be changed. Had you told Mourinho that Sissoko would be one of his core players, he probably would have laughed. Now a year on, Sissoko is nearly as indispensable as Højbjerg to the Tottenham system.
Tanguy Ndombele (CAM)
Tanguy Ndombele was a late scratch for the victory over Arsenal last weekend but looked healthy during his 30 minutes against Antwerp in Europa League. Not asked to do much on the evening, after Lo Celso has played a ton of minutes over the last few weeks, Ndombele needs the start on Sunday. Frankly, there may be a bit of pressure on Tanguy to keep his spot for Liverpool midweek. Lo Celso has been on a role and Tanguy has not been as good as earlier in the season in the last couple weeks. Maybe that was a knock he was carrying and now he can get back to normal. Either way, a battle for the starting #10 spot is underway at Hotspur Way.