Tottenham Hotspur welcome Nuno Espirito Santo back for the first time since his departure in 2021 as they take on Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Sunday.
The Portuguese lasted just a handful of months at the club before being replaced by Antonio Conte and he will return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a Forest team that is unbeaten in its past three matches and has proved tough to get past for most of their opponents since Espirito Santo’s arrival.
Spurs took a point away from their midweek derby at West Ham and Ange Postecoglou will be looking for them to return to winning ways on Sunday. A victory would take them to 60 points, the same total as they ended up on last season, but this time with another seven matches still to be played.
We got our Tottenham correspondents Alasdair Gold and Rob Guest to predict the starting line-up they reckon the Australian will select to face Forest
Alasdair Gold – Tottenham Hotspur correspondent
Postecoglou made three changes for the trip to West Ham and he will have to decide which alterations to stick with the starting line-up to face Forest.
Micky van de Ven is likely to keep his place in the backline, but the Spurs boss could bring Pape Matar Sarr back into the team at the expense of Rodrigo Bentancur. Postecoglou called Yves Bissouma’s display “outstanding” at the London Stadium so he is unlikely to come out of the team.
Other key choices lie up front and whether Postecoglou sticks with the front three of Timo Werner, Son Heung-min and Brennan Johnson with the former and latter combining for the early goal but the whole attack struggling to find a way through afterwards. Richarlison is out with his knee problem but Dejan Kulusevski might be an option to come back into the team.
Gold’s team: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison; Johnson, Son, Werner.
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Rob Guest – Football writer
Postecoglou could well look to make a couple of changes to his Tottenham team for Sunday’s Premier League encounter against Nottingham Forest. Having had two games on the agenda this week rather than the usual one, it probably makes sense for the head coach to refresh his Spurs side.
The first change could come in midfield as Pape Matar Sarr dropped down to the bench at West Ham on Tuesday night. Rodrigo Bentancur fared OK in his game time at the London Stadium but he could quite possibly find himself back on the bench this weekend as Sarr comes in.
A change could also be considered in attack despite Timo Werner and Brennan Johnson combining for Spurs’ goal at West Ham. Unfortunately without Richarlison this weekend through injury, Dejan Kulusevski will be pushing Werner and Johnson for a spot on the wing and Postecoglou has a decision to make over the Swede.
Guest’s team: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Bissouma, Sarr, Maddison; Johnson, Son, Werner.
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