Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte could make a key change to his starting XI for their return to Premier League action this evening…
What’s the latest?
The Italian’s outfit return to Lancashire just a few days after their stunning 3-2 win over Manchester City on Saturday with a trip to Turf Moor to face a struggling Burnley side, who defeated Brighton hours only earlier at the weekend.
And according to football.london reporter Alasdair Gold, the Spurs boss could drop Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg as he looks to freshen up the engine room.
“I got the impression Conte was hinting at one change at least,” the ever-reliable reporter tweeted alongside an article, where he hints that it’s the Danish midfielder who could make way for Harry Winks.
Is it the right call?
Indeed, the 52-year-old head coach did suggest that there could be some sort of rotation for this midweek encounter, with Leeds United on Saturday in the lunchtime’s early kickoff.
“We have to see if they recover very well otherwise I will have to make rotation because we have many games in a row in a few days and we have to try in every moment to find the best solution,” he said.
But is dropping Hojbjerg for Winks the right call?
The 26-year-old has received his fair share of criticism from some sections of the Lilywhites faithful over the course of the season so far but as club insider John Wenham claimed to Football Insider, a lot of that has been “ridiculous” and “grossly unfair”.
Solid but unspectacular is one way to describe Hojbjerg, and that isn’t a big problem or any scratch towards his ability. You need these sorts of players in the squad.
In fact, some have even dubbed the £36m-rated midfielder a “monster” for his relentlessness and work rate in the heart of the pitch.
The truth is, Spurs are a lot weaker without him in the starting XI.
He was dropped for the 2-0 defeat to Wolves and didn’t play in the 2-2 draw to Liverpool this season. Last term, he started in every single Premier League game.
“The guy never lets us down, he’s missed one league game since he joined,” added Wenham. “He’s always available and he’s a top defensive midfielder. There is a desperate narrative to pit Hojbjerg against Oliver Skipp.”
Winks, however, has been here for many, many years and has never truly pushed on and has regressed immensely. He was once an England regular under Gareth Southgate, now he’ll be lucky to ever play for the Three Lions again, given the promising options ahead of him such as Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice.
The Englishman, a good passer of the ball yes, but he does not offer the resolute attributes that Hojbjerg can – the latter is clear for tackles (2.1 vs one per game), interceptions (1.5 vs 1.4 per game) and even dribbles (1.1 vs 0.6 per game), via WhoScored.
Therefore, Spurs fans should be worried about the prospect of resting Hojbjerg in a fixture that the club needs to win to stay firmly in the race for the top four.
Hojbjerg is too important under Conte and he deserves a lot more credit than he receives.
AND in other news, Cost nothing, now worth £18m: Pochettino struck gold at Spurs with “absolute machine”…