Having a selection headache last time out at Wolves, Ange Postecoglou will once again have a dilemma on his hands when Tottenham return to action on Sunday. Aston Villa are the visitors to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the match promises to be a very interesting affair with both sides in the mix for a top-four finish after excellent starts to the campaign.
Spurs will again be without Micky van de Ven and James Maddison through injury, as well as Cristian Romero who serves the second game of his three-match ban. Another player who will also be absent through suspension against the Villans is midfielder Yves Bissouma.
The Mali international picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in the 2-1 defeat at Wolves prior to the international break and will now sit out Sunday's game as a result. Leaving Postecoglou without two of his three first-choice midfielders, the Tottenham man has a big decision to make in the middle of the pitch ahead of Sunday afternoon.
What Postecoglou must ensure is that he gets more from his midfield than what was the case at Molineux. Maddison's absence was significant and it really hurt Tottenham going forward as they didn't have a player to help link up midfield with attack and also make things happen in the final third.
While it was perhaps no surprise to see Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg included in the starting XI after a really good showing off the bench in the defeat at home to Chelsea five days earlier, it did leave Tottenham without someone who could really influence things going forward and they instead looked rather defensive.
Giovani Lo Celso could have helped ease the issue as he is the player most suited to Maddison's role but he was left on the bench, while the game came too early for Rodrigo Bentancur to start after his lengthy layoff through injury. Fifteen days on from that defeat in the West Midlands and with the Uruguayan getting some more minutes in the tank for his country during the latest international break, it could very well be the game where Postecoglou unleashes the 26-year-old from the off.
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Never going to rush Bentancur straight back into the team going on the severity of the ACL injury he suffered at Leicester City, Spurs have been building up his fitness through cameo appearances off the bench, including the 4-1 defeat against Chelsea where he got a good 40 minutes or so due to the amount of added time. Add in his pitch time for Uruguay against Argentina last week and potentially some more minutes against Bolivia on Tuesday evening, Bentancur should be near enough there to soon start games for Tottenham once again.
The player has been desperate to play more for quite some time, revealing in an interview with Uruguayan radio station Sport 890 three weeks ago that his recovery went well and that he was ready to return prior to the date Spurs had pencilled in.
"I did not suffer in my recovery. The knee reacted very well to all the stimuli and increased loads during the process. They only took fluids from me three times," he explained.
"The last two months my subconscious began to win over me because I was already ready to play. They changed the deadlines to avoid relapses, they ask you for almost nine months and they didn't want me to return until November 21."
Such a pivotal figure in Tottenham's midfield prior to his injury as he helped the team achieve a Champions League berth and also chipped in with plenty of goals, Bentancur can once again be a gamechanger for the Lilywhites. That will all come when his minutes increase and he is starting games, though.
That could possibly be the case against Aston Villa on Sunday, especially with Bissouma watching on from the stands. One player who looks guaranteed to start is Pape Matar Sarr, who has been a regular since missing out on the opening day at Brentford.
Bentancur and Sarr have only played alongside each other once during their Tottenham careers so far, with that moment coming in the final few minutes of the recent 2-1 win at Crystal Palace after the former made his comeback after almost nine months on the sidelines. Not featuring in the same XI last season and with Bentancur replacing Sarr off the bench in the last two fixtures, Postecoglou can unleash a brand new Tottenham partnership if both start in Sunday's home encounter against Aston Villa.
It will certainly be a brand new midfield combination if Lo Celso is given the nod to start in the more advanced midfield role with the duo behind him. If not, it could be Bentancur who operates as the attack-minded midfielder with Sarr and one of Hojbjerg or Oliver Skipp playing slightly deeper.
Whereas Bentancur and Hojbjerg are used to playing alongside one another after forming a good understanding in Antonio Conte's Tottenham team, the only time the pair have played in a trio involving Sarr came in dying minutes of the Crystal Palace match so it is effectively a brand new midfield partnership. Given the absences of Maddison and Bissouma against Aston Villa this weekend, it could very well pave the way for a new midfield trio and Bentancur's first Spurs start since February.
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