Steven Bergwijn announced his arrival at Tottenham Hotspur with authority, making his presence felt immediately by scoring the game winning goal yesterday against Manchester City. The January transfer window addition has become an immediate fan favorite in the process, but he is ineligible for Spurs’ match, Wednesday night at home against Southampton FC in the FA Cup.
That’s because this is a fourth round replay, and FA Cup rules state a player must have been available in the first tie in order to feature in the replay. He won’t be the only key player absent, as midfielder Dele Alli is a slight doubt, having been the recipient of a really severe tackle from Raheem Sterling on Sunday.
The strong challenge utterly incensed manager Jose Mourinho, who believes that Sterling should have been shown red for the incident. Also out of commission for this one are long term injury absentees: Harry Kane, Moussa Sissoko and Ben Davies.
For Saints, Stuart Armstrong is expected to be out for several weeks after sustaining a hip injury. Also, Kyle Walker-Peters is ineligible to feature against his parent club, having been loaned out on January transfer window deadline day. Otherwise, the south coast club has no other selection issues.
Tottenham Hotspur vs Southampton FC FYIs
February 5, 7:45 pm, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Tottenham Hotspur Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
TV and Live Stream: BT Sport 1 & BT Sport Ultimate
Referee: David Coote
Prediction: Tottenham 2, Southampton 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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