Tottenham Hotspur XI for Stoke in Carabao Cup Quarterfinals
By Aaron Coe
On Wednesday Tottenham Hotspur travel to Bet365 Stadium to face Stoke City in the EFL Carabao Cup Quarterfinals, here is the XI most likely to get the call.
After the performance on Sunday in the loss to Leicester City, it is likely José Mourinho, and most fans want a completely new XI for Stoke City on Wednesday. While many will get most of their wish, some players will carry over from the team that lost to Leicester, but much of the starting XI will be new.
Return of Some Rotation
Before the Liverpool match a week ago Wednesday, José Mourinho and Tottenham Hotspur have been using the Thursday Europa League matches to rotate some players. With Stoke admittedly a step down from Liverpool Spurs will again look to get back to a rotation and freshen up the side. Interestingly, one of the biggest limitations to the Europa League side – the fact that Joe Rodon is not available – is also true in the League Cup.
With Joe Rodon “Cup tied” from his time at Swansea and injuries to Japhet Tanganga and presumably Giovani Lo Celso, some areas of the pitch have fewer options than others. With rotation, availability, and winning the match in mind, here are the XI plus bench we think Mourinho will roll out Wednesday to face Stoke.
Captain & Center-Half – Ben Davies
There is likely a percentage of the fan base that think this is a terrible idea, but the reality is, Ben Davies needs to play. Without Joe Rodon or Japhet Tanganga available, Spurs are back to where they were earlier in the Europa League campaign, which is Ben Davies playing center-half. In this instance we also have Davies captaining the team because Hugo is on the bench.