Tottenham Hotspur will not be able to field two of their new summer recruits when Newcastle United make a visit to north London on Sunday.
Spurs come into this game on the back of a three-match winning streak and will look to keep rolling. Their killer September schedule continues as they will have four games coming up in the next eight days.
Jose Mourinho will be disappointed that he won’t be able to play either of Sergio Reguilon or Gareth Bale. (go here for our starting XI prediction)
The Spanish full back has returned to training, but the manager confirmed that he is not match fit while their Welsh wizard is still nursing a knee injury which rules him out of this game.
Another injury they will have to deal is that of midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. He was not in the squad for Thursday’s Europa League game and could be out for Sunday as well. Moussa Sissoko or Tanguy Ndombele will be taking his place in the centre of midfield.
Though it would be nice to see the Spanish left back start a game, it is better to wait until he is completely fit. Spurs must ensure that their squad doesn’t pick up any more injuries amidst this very unforgiving schedule.
A good example of following this principle would be to field Ben Davies as the left back until the new full back is match fit.
Their task of beating Newcastle might be a little easier as the Tyneside team have several injury problems of their own. Steve Bruce’s men must not be taken too lightly though as they have plenty of players who can hurt the North Londoners.
The focus in London will once again be on the star duo of Heung-min Son and Harry Kane. Both of them had a hand to play in all of the five goals in the last league game, against Southampton.
Mourinho will be hoping that they can click again, which would help them bag all three points. Tottenham have coped very well with the fixture list so far and there is no reason why they shouldn’t be able to come out victorious against the Magpies.