Ange Postecoglou has made five changes to his Tottenham team to take on Manchester City in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup. Facing Pep Guardiola's side in the same round of the FA Cup back in January, Spurs are going to have to be at their very best on Wednesday evening if they are to progress to the round five and keep their silverware hopes alive.
Not only that, the Lilywhites need to deliver a big performance after such a disappointing showing in Sunday's 1-0 defeat away at Crystal Palace. Postecoglou has made wholesale changes in his two other Carabao Cup games as Spurs head coach and he has once again made some alterations, although not quite to the extent he did at Fulham in August 2023 or at Coventry City last month.
Guglielmo Vicario starts in goal, with Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven joined in the backline by Archie Gray and Radu Dragusin. With Destiny Udogie dropping to the bench, Van de Ven gets the nod at left-back.
In midfield, Pape Matar Sarr and Rodrigo Bentancur come in alongside Dejan Kulusevski in midfield. Brennan Johnson, Dominic Solanke and Timo Werner then make up the front three.
Speaking to the media in his pre-match press conference at Hotspur Way on Tuesday afternoon, Postecoglou knows his side are going to be in for a very tough game regardless of who Guardiola selects in his XI.
"I think it's fair to say most clubs rotate through the Carabao Cup, but you just have to look at Man City's record in this competition and and they are a fantastic football club," he said. "They have had success for a very long time and sometimes people take that for granted because it's City, but it's very difficult in this league and in this country to maintain that excellence over the time they have.
"They do that because irrespective of who they play, there is a level of performance they continually deliver whether they've rotated the team or not, or whatever the competition. And very few competitions they drop out of at an early stage."
Here is the Tottenham team Postecoglou has selected to take on Man City:
Tottenham XI: Vicario; Gray, Romero, Dragusin, Van de Ven; Sarr, Bentancur, Kulusevski; Johnson, Solanke, Werner.
Substitutes: Forster, Porro, Davies, Udogie, Bissouma, Bergvall, Maddison, Moore, Richarlison.
Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham! Click here for in-depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.