Tottenham return from Florence after playing Fiorentina to a 1-1 draw and will quickly change their focus from the Europa League to the FA Cup as they play Crystal Palace at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
Crystal Palace would love to forget the last time these two sides met as they were in control of the match until Dele Alli hit what could be the goal of the season to give Tottenham the lead and the three points. They’ll be looking to extract some revenge by knocking the Lilywhites outs of the FA Cup.
Tom Carroll will not be available for selection as he picked up a knock in the match against Fiorentina. Clinton N’Jie and Jan Vertoghen are also unavailable for selection.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino will most likely be shifting his lineup around giving some key players rest as they play Fiorentina again in a few days. Again Poch will be starting most of the first team though, as advancing the FA Cup should be a high priority for Spurs. Some first team players are also fully rested.
Goalkeeper
Michel Vorm – Hugo Lloris will miss out on the FA clash after injuring his shoulder in the final minutes last week against Manchester City. Vorm is more than capable of filling in for the injured captain.
Defence
Kyle Walker and Danny Rose will start at the right and left fullback positions in place of Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies.
The centre-backs will look the same as they did against Fiorentina recently with Toby Alderweireld and Kevin Wimmer getting the start. They’ll all look to shut former Tottenham player Emmanuel Adebayor.
Midfield
Eric Dier will start as the holding midfielder after getting some rest on Thursday against FIorentina. Poch should rest Mousa Dembélé as he played a full 45 minutes on Thursday and will need to be fit for the second leg matchup against Fiorentina.
It’s a big match for Nabil Bentaleb who after having a great first season at Spurs has rarely been featured this year. If he doesn’t start tomorrow it can almost confirm that he’s out of favour at the moment. I think Poch will give the Algerian the start though.
In the attacking midfield Dele Alli will play in the centre attacking midfield to give Christian Eriksen some rest. To his left will be Nacer Chadli while a fully rested Erik Lamela will be on the right flank.
Striker
Harry Kane will be the lone striker for the Lilywhites after coming on as a substitute against Fiorentina. Worst case scenario here for Tottenham would be if they draw and have to play a replay match against Palace later. Obviously Tottenham don’t want to lose, but it wouldn’t be such terrible thing at this point.
With so many matches coming up in the next couple weeks, including big Premier League matches against West Ham and Arsenal, the less matches Tottenham have to play the better. Personally, I think they should solely focus on the FA Cup and the Premier League, but that’s a different subject.
Spurs been on a great run of form lately while Crystal Palace has struggled, winning just two of their last 11 competitive games. On that reason I think Tottenham will advance in the FA Cup.
What’s your starting lineup for Spurs look like and what do you think the result will be?
(4-2-3-1)
Via – Lineup Builder
