Keys battles for Tottenham Hotspur at AC Milan in the Champions League

Key Battle 3 comes from within for Spurs

Tottenham knows coming in how shorthanded they are as a team. They also know how talented yet inexperienced Oliver Skipp and Pape Matar Sarr – the likely starting midfield – are for the team. It would be fantastic if Skipp and Sarr played amazingly and pushed for more minutes in the midfield. However, the more likely scenario for Spurs’ success is for some of their established stars to have big games and carry the team.

Players like Son, Kulusevski, and Kane must be great on Tuesday for Tottenham to win. If the other nine players suddenly think Sarr and Skipp are going to perform like Bentancur and Hojbjerg, they are wrong. Sarr and Skipp can and will do their jobs, but that cannot be to carry the team, but rather to be part of it.

Players like Perisic and defenders like Cristian Romero have to do that bit extra and play that degree higher so Tottenham can compensate for the losses.

Maybe Skipp or Sarr put in a man-of-the-match performance, but having Kane score a hattrick or Romero shutout Oliver Giroud would be as good and much more likely.