Tottenham Hotspur will host Nottingham Forest in North London this afternoon and Antonio Conte will be looking for a strong response from his matchday squad following a disappointing draw with AC Milan in the Champions League earlier this week, which led to their exit from the competition.
The Italian manager will be feeling the pressure as Spurs’ dreams of a trophy were diminished which has ultimately led to reports that his position at the club is currently unstable with a number of managers being lined up to take over.
Despite their troubles in Europe, the Lilywhites remain comfortably positioned inside the top four and are three points clear of Liverpool in fifth ahead of their clash with Steve Cooper’s side in front of the home support today, so it will be important for Conte to retain that distance to salvage any confidence left in his management.
In terms of injuries, Hugo Lloris, Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Ryan Sessegnon remain unavailable for selection whilst Emerson Royal and Ivan Perisic are both doubts following their involvement against Milan on Wednesday.
Conte took to his pre-match press conference to confirm that the duo are looking unlikely to start against Forest:
“Emerson didn’t have training today because he had a kick and today he wasn’t able to train. Tomorrow morning we’ll try him and see if he’s available at least for the bench.”
“Another situation we have to monitor is Perisic, he had a training session today but tomorrow I have to speak to him and see if he’s available.”
What could Spurs’ XI look like against Nottingham Forest?
Fraser Forster (GK), Pedro Porro (RWB), Cristian Romero (CB), Eric Dier (CB), Clement Lenglet (CB), Ben Davies (LWB), Oliver Skipp (CM), Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (CM), Dejan Kulusevski (RW), Harry Kane (ST), Son Heung-Min (LW)
Football FanCast predicts that Conte will make just two changes to the team that were held to a 0-0 draw by Milan but will continue to deploy his familiar 3-4-3 formation nevertheless.
The first change we expect to see is Pedro Porro returning to the starting line-up to replace Royal following the concern surrounding his fitness ahead of the game.
The second change we predict is Eric Dier’s reprisal of his role in the centre-back position alongside an otherwise unchanged defensive set-up with Fraser Forster, Clement Lenglet and Ben Davies retaining their spots in the starting eleven, with the latter moving into the left wing-back position to replace Perisic.
It is no secret that Conte is a big fan of Dier with the manager dubbing the £85k-per-week defender “reliable” in the past and his inclusion this weekend could be the boost Spurs need to comfortably keep Forest’s attacking threat quiet.
There is little doubt that anything less than a victory at home this afternoon could be catastrophic for Conte in terms of his future in North London and making some subtle tweaks to his team could be the key to ensuring the side doesn’t give Liverpool the chance to close the gap with Spurs in the battle for a Champions League qualifying spot.