Tottenham Hotspur XI to Bounce Back Against Leicester City

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Tottenham Hotspur, Tanguy Ndombele (Photo by Nikolay Doychinov/Getty Images) /

Tottenham Starting Midfield to Face Leicester

Tottenham Hotspur bring Tanguy Ndombele back into the mix in the midfield after being an unused substitute in the Liverpool match. The bigger benches allow more midfielders total in the squad, but still only three make it in the starting formation, with two midfielders lying deep. The difference this game is who those two are and we know one will not be changing.

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – Defensive Center Midfield

Pierre Højbjerg was okay against Liverpool midweek, although he never got moving in the attack the way he probably would have liked. Further, his second half yellow card changed some of his approach by lessening his aggressiveness. After a few ordinary showings Højbjerg is likely due for a big game. Frankly, Tottenham need a big game from the Dane as Dier and Alderweireld will need help with Vardy in the channels. Additionally, the match-up between Højbjerg and James Maddison may be the most pivotal in the game with Maddison occupying the #10 role for Leicester.

Tanguy Ndombele – Defensive Center Midfield

Moussa Sissoko was all over the field against Liverpool, but his biggest offensive contribution was probably a long-ball to Heung-Min Son, which did not come off. Whereas having a more defensive minded line-up was expected against Liverpool, Spurs can be less conservative against Leicester City. José Mourinho works to help maintain more possession and build from the defensive half by having more passers on the field. Ndombele does enough defensively and can rotate with Lo Celso at times to mix things up and provide Højbjerg the support he needs.

Giovani Lo Celso – Center Attacking Midfield

Giovani Lo Celso has seemingly taken over the starting #10 role for Tottenham Hotspur. His needle threaded ball to Son led directly to Spurs goal and made the match great. While Lo Celso just missed another seeing eye pass, his impact was stifled in the second half after he got a yellow card and Liverpool were clearly working to get him a second. Wijnaldum can be seen asking the ref about another card as Mourinho is pulling the trigger on the substitute. Ideally, Lo Celso stays out of the book Sunday and can help orchestrate the flow for Tottenham.