Ange Postecoglou hinted that Mikey Moore could be set for a return to action as we prepare to face Tamworth in the third round of the Emirates FA Cup on Sunday (12.30pm UK).
Mikey was back on the bench for our Carabao Cup semi-final, first leg victory against Liverpool on Wednesday evening for the first time since November, during which time he's missed 14 matches due to illness.
Asked in his pre-match press conference on Friday if Sunday's tie at The Lamb Ground was an opportunity for our younger players like Mikey, Alfie Dorrington and Will Lankshear, Ange said: "No, it gives me an opportunity to put a team out that I think will win a game of football. The ones who play will be the ones who I think will do that. It's good to get Mikey back, and it's important we'll give him some game time at the weekend, aside from that, it will be a team that most importantly we think will get us through to the next round."
Ange was also asked if he was conscious of the need to rest the likes of Dejan Kulusevski, Dominic Solanke and Pedro Porro - Deki has appeared in all 30 of our matches so far this season, Dominic 26 and Pedro 25 - and if this tie against the National League side was an opportunity to do that, and he responded: "Yes, to a certain extent, but we have to be mindful that we don't want to turn into a tricky game for us, we want to make sure we play our best. If we can give some rest to those guys you said... having Mikey back helps in that front third, for sure, getting Pape and Madders back helps us in the midfield area, but we're still pretty restricted defensively, at least Sergio Reguilon has had some games recently, so that gives us a chance, but in terms of centre-halves and right-back, we're still pretty limited in what we can do there in terms of rotation, but hopefully we can rest at least a couple of players from a full 90 minutes of football."
Ange gave us an update on Rodrigo Bentacur's fitness earlier on Friday, and relayed the following information on the midfielder when asked about our team news going into the weekend.
"Starting with Rodrigo, it's mostly positive news. He went to hospital after the game, he was concussed, had every check they needed to do and I understand he's home now, so that's positive news for us because it was a distressing situation that we had to deal with. The players, Pedro Porro, did a great job notifying the medical team, they did a great job. So, now it's just about recovery for him. We'll respect the protocols in place and aside from those set protocols, we'll make sure we give him as much time as he needs to get back. Everyone got through the other night pretty well, no-one really coming back in from the guys who have been absent, apart from Pape Matar Sarr and James Maddison, who are available again (after being suspended against Liverpool)."