Even Ange Postecoglou might struggle to predict the Tottenham Hotspur side he will eventually select to face Newcastle United in Saturday's early kick-off in the Premier League.
That's because on top of already having nine players unavailable to face Eddie Howe's in-form side this weekend due to injury or suspension, the Australian then also revealed on Friday that an illness bug had worked its way through the Spurs squad. The 59-year-old admitted that when it came to his starting line up: "It’s illness so you almost work hour by hour. I’m hoping it’s not too bad but it’s obviously disrupted our training. Hopefully we’ll be ok."
Postecoglou already has Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, Wilson Odobert, Ben Davies, Richarlison and Mikey Moore on the absence list as well as Rodrigo Bentancur suspended. Djed Spence is at least back from his one-game suspension and the group of players unaffected by illness have at least had their only midweek without a match in what will be three months.
Here's the Tottenham team that we reckon Postecoglou will select, even if admittedly we know that anything can happen in these final hours ahead of kick-off with players feeling worse or better.