Tottenham Hotspur Projected XI for Wolfsberger in Europa League

Tottenham Starting Midfield

Tottenham seems to have found the new base of the midfield with Pierre Højbjerg and Tanguy Ndombele and despite them both playing a ton of minutes like several other key players, they are needed once again to step up for the team. The only real intrigue is who plays in front of them.

Pierre Højbjerg – Defensive Midfield

Pierre Højbjerg has not been at his best of late. With that in mind there are two ways José Mourinho could approach this match. The first would be to give the Dane the first half off and bring him on in the second. The other approach would be start the Dane and hope he does not have to play all 90 minutes. Our thought is Mourinho opts for the later approach and starts Pierre Højbjerg as part of his strongest team as Spurs look to take control of the two legged affair.

Tanguy Ndombele – Defensive Midfield

It is in that spirit of starting the strongest Spurs team possible that Tanguy Ndombele joins Pierre Højbjerg at the base of the midfield. After playing mostly in a more attacking role to start the season, whether it is necessity or something else, Ndombele has drifted deeper into the midfield. As other attacking midfielders get healthy this is good for Spurs, as Ndobmele can drive the team from deeper while keeping more attackers on the field.

Erik Lamela – Attacking Midfield

Speaking of keeping attackers on the field, one gets the feeling we are going to see a heavy does of Erik Lamela until the Argentine can again no longer go. Ideally, Dele Alli steps back up and Giovani Lo Celso gets healthy and Spurs can not be forced to overplay Lamela. However, until Dele is showing something regularly and Lo Celso returns, what choice does Mourinho really have?