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Ange Postecoglou faces a decision in goal for the visit of Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, with new signing Antonin Kinsky available and set to compete with Brandon Austin for a starting spot.

Austin made his long-awaited Spurs debut in Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Newcastle but Kinsky, 21, has been signed to compete to be Spurs' No1 long-term and trained with his new teammates on Monday and Tuesday. Fraser Forster, 36, returned to training on Tuesday but has been struggling with illness.

Postecoglou's back four picks itself, with Radu Dragusin recovered after being forced off at half-time through exhaustion against the Magpies.

Midfield pair Pape Matar Sarr and James Maddison are suspended on Wednesday night but Rodrigo Bentancur, who was banned at the weekend, is expected to come into the midfield, while Yves Bissouma could replace Lucas Bergvall at No6.

Spurs captain Heung-min Son, who was rested on Saturday, is likely to return to the front three, with Timo Werner set to make way.

Mikey Moore could be on the bench after returning to training following an extended period on the sidelines through illness.

The skipper’s contract extension has been triggered

Postecoglou described Austin's display in a patched-up back five as “great” and the academy graduate is in contention to keep his place for the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Liverpool on Wednesday - even with Fraser Forster expected to return from his sickbed and new signing Antonin Kinksy through the door.

The second was Postecoglou's decision to leave out senior trio Yves Bissouma, James Maddison and Heung-min Son, despite being without 10 first-team players (by half-time, it was 11 after Radu Dragusin felt unable to continue).

“I thought we were going to need some running power and energy early on and, as the game went on, we would be able to use the experience of the guys who came on and I thought it worked well,” said Postecoglou, explaining his thinking. “We finished really strong. That was the whole idea about it.

“Guys like Sonny, Biss and Maddison to a lesser extent, they have played a lot of football and having them fresh helps them mentally as much as physically and I thought all three when they came on made a real difference for us.”

There is every chance that Bissouma and Son were rested with Liverpool in mind - the game feels more significant for Spurs than Saturday, given their dismal Premier League position - but Maddison is suspended on Wednesday and was still among Postecoglou's substitutes for the third match running.

Postecoglou had planned to start Maddison against Wolves a week earlier, only for the playmaker to report ill on the day (he was well enough for an evening at the World Darts Championship that night, which the head coach said was “no problem”) and the 28-year-old may still have been feeling the effects of his illness.

It must, however, have been frustrating for Maddison to sit out against Newcastle because new England head coach Thomas Tuchel was watching from the directors' box, witnessing early goals from Dominic Solanke and Anthony Gordon before Alexander Isak's winner.

Maddison was bright for the final half-hour, after coming on in a triple change with Bissouma and Son, and went closest to an equaliser with a curling shot.

For now, though, getting back in the Spurs side will have to come before any thoughts of a return to the England set up under Tuchel.

Having started the club's first nine Premier League games of the campaign, Maddison has been left out of six of the subsequent 11, and often been restricted to surprisingly brief cameos from the bench, including just six minutes in the 2-1 defeat to Ipswich and 11 in the loss to Chelsea.

When he has played, Maddison has been effective, directly contributing to 12 goals in the Premier League, including a double in the standout 4-0 win over Manchester City and an important strike to make it 2-1 in the 6-3 defeat to Liverpool last month.

Postecoglou, however, has frequently preferred the running power of Dejan Kulusevski and Pape Matar Sarr in his twin No8 roles and does not see Maddison as an option in the front three, where he has played for England and his previous clubs.

The Spurs head coach has pointed out that Maddison's good form has been down to careful rotation and repeatedly said that he needs to be at his peak physically to perform at his very best.

But it was easy to wonder if the decision to start Lucas Bergvall, 18, over Bissouma and bench Maddison again was down - at least in part - to Postecoglou's frustration at the midfield pair, who can be brilliant on their day, but tend to blow hot and cold.

The relentlessness of the schedule means Maddison still has a huge part to play in Spurs' season but it would be telling if he returns to the line-up for next weekend's FA Cup third-round tie at non-League Tamworth, only to drop to the bench again for the crunch visit to Arsenal in the north London derby on January 15.

As it stands, Postecoglou's vice-captain is heading into the second half of the season with his position a little uncertain, scrapping for his place in a struggling side.

Tottenham host Liverpool in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final this week.

Spurs largely dominated against Manchester United in the quarter-finals but eventually only squeezed through to the final four with a dramatic 4-3 victory at home.

Ange Postecoglou’s side, however, are in dire form and were beaten 2-1 at home by Newcastle on Saturday.

Liverpool, on the other hand, were able to rotate heavily in their 2-1 quarter-final win away at Southampton last month.

Sitting pretty in the Premier League and the Champions League, Arne Slot’s side were held a dramatic 2-2 draw with United on Sunday.

Here’s everything you need to know about the game.

Tottenham vs Liverpool is scheduled for an 8pm GMT kick-off time on Wednesday 8 January 2025.

TV channel: The game will be broadcast on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Ultra HDR. Coverage starts at 7pm.

Live stream: Subscribers will be able to watch on a live stream via the Sky Go app.

Spurs remain without a raft of key first-team players. All of Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Ben Davies, Wilson Odobert, Richarlison, Mikey Moore and Guglielmo Vicario are expected to miss out. Radu Dragusin was replaced at half-time on Saturday after a sickness bug ripped through the Spurs camp.

January signing Antonin Kinsky will hope to be involved after completing a shock move from Slavia Prague over the course of the weekend. James Maddison and Pape Matar Sarr are both suspended.

Liverpool will be without Joe Gomez. Dominik Szoboszlai missed the United game due to illness and will hope to return for the semi-final.

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Liverpool were boosted by the returns of two key defenders ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final showdown at Tottenham.

Both Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley returned from injuries suffered during the Champions League win over Real Madrid in November for Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United at Anfield.

Having both available gives Arne Slot options, particularly at right-back. While Trent Alexander-Arnold is undoubtedly the first-choice there, his performance against United was heavily criticised amid transfer interest from Real Madrid.

Bradley is at least an option to come into the side, although the England international is expected to start.

Dominik Szoboszlai missed Sunday's game due to illness so is a slight doubt. Joe Gomez looks the only certain absentee following the hamstring injury he suffered against West Ham in late December.

Darwin Nunez was booked against United and will miss Liverpool’s next Premier League match, but is available here.

Much was made about Trent Alexander-Arnold’s performance for Liverpool against Manchester United

AFP via Getty Images

Liverpool predicted XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Jones, Gakpo; Jota

Doubts: Szoboszlai

Injured: Gomez

Time and date: 8pm GMT on Wednesday 8 January 2025

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

TV channel and live stream: Sky Sports

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Spurs without a host of key players ahead of Carabao Cup showdown with Liverpool

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Transfer news – LIVE!

The January transfer window is already in full swing and plenty of big names are being linked with huge midseason moves. Arsenal, of course, remain in with a chance of winning the Premier League title and supporters will no doubt be keen to see Mikel Arteta’s side strengthen their frontline this month. To that end, the Gunners have reportedly seen an opening offer rejected by Brazilian club Botafogo for £100m-rated striker, Igor Jesus.

Manchester United, meanwhile, are reportedly in pursuit of a new left-back to fit Ruben Amorim’s system. Both they and Liverpool have been linked with moves for Bournemouth’s impressive Milos Kerkez, who may be happy to wait to decide on his future until the summer.

Tottenham have already been active this month following the rather surprise signing of goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky. Now, reports suggest Spurs have made contact over a potential move for PSG and France forward Randal Kolo Muani. Follow all the news, gossip and rumours including updates on Trent Alexander-Arnold and Chelsea with Standard Sport’s daily transfer blog!

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Ange Postecoglou has revealed that Radu Dragusin and Archie Gray both “literally got off sickbeds” to play for depleted Tottenham as he explained why he left all of Heung-min Son, James Maddison and Yves Bissouma on the bench for the 2-1 home defeat by Newcastle.

The absence of both Vicario and deputy Forster led to third-choice goalkeeper Brandon Austin making his first senior appearance for the club nine years after joining, while Dragusin - Tottenham’s last remaining available senior centre-back - was replaced by forgotten man Sergio Reguilon at half-time to leave returning full-back Djed Spence and midfielder Gray as a makeshift defensive pairing for the second half.

Dragusin and Gray were among the players said to be struggling with illness in the build-up to the game, along with Forster, with Postecoglou revealing the efforts they made to be available.

“Radu and Archie literally got off sickbeds to play today, and Radu was shattered at half-time,” said the under-pressure Spurs boss, who claimed he was the “angriest he had ever been in his career” after a controversial loss to Newcastle that extended Tottenham’s dismal run to just one win from eight league matches.

“Fraser, obviously he’s still bed-ridden and struggling with it, there’s a couple of others struggling. Like I said, at half-time [Dragusin] didn’t have any more to give. On Thursday, we literally had 11 fit players for training.”

All three were eventually introduced at the same time just past the hour mark in a spirited second-half effort, with Son and Bissouma perhaps being rested with Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg tie at home to Liverpool in mind. Maddison, however, is suspended for that fixture.

Quizzed on why that trio had been left on the bench on Saturday, Postecoglou - who before the game said that Tottenham had to look after their senior players who are fit as he hoped Timo Werner’s pace would case Newcastle early problems - explained: “Just a combination of I thought we were going to need some running power and energy early on and as the game went on we would be able to use the experience of the guys who came on and I thought it worked well.

“We finished really strong. We started the game really well and the only thing that stopped us in our tracks was not football. That was the whole idea about it.

“Guys like Sonny, Biss and Maddison to a lesser extent, they have played a lot of football and having them fresh helps them mentally as much as physically and I thought all three when they came on made a real difference for us.”

Austin, 26, has been at Spurs for nine years but has never made a first-team appearance, yet is needed today with No2 ‘keeper Fraser Forster ill and first-choice Guglielmo Vicario still sidelined.

His last competitive outing came for loan club Orlando City in Major League Soccer (MLS) back in 2021. Alfie Whiteman is the back-up goalie this afternoon.

Destiny Udogie will miss the first game of 2025 as he begins a lay-off of around six weeks with the hamstring strain picked up against Wolves last weekend, with Djed Spence set to deputise at left-back after a suspension.

Vicario (foot), Ben Davies, Micky van de Ven (both hamstring) and Cristian Romero (quad) remain sidelined, so the rest of Ange Postecoglou's back five effectively picks itself with Archie Gray and Radu Dragusin fit to start.

With Rodrigo Bentancur banned again, Lucas Bergvall is preferred to Yves Bissouma in midfield, with James Maddison only on the bench as Pape Matar Sarr lines up alongside stand-in captain Dejan Kulusevski.

Usual skipper Heung-min Son is also only a substitute, so Timo Werner joins the attack along with Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson.

Richarlison (hamstring) and Mikey Moore (illness) are expected to return to the squad next week, while Wilson Odobert (hamstring) is a longer-term injury.

New signing Yang Min-hyeok is available after officially joining the club on January 1, although Postecoglou has said Spurs will give the 18-year-old time to adjust to English football.

Spurs depleted by injury and illness as they look to stop the rot against in-form Magpies