- Tottenham take on APOEL Nicosia in the Champions League
- Pochettino could rest key players for the game on Wednesday night
- Kane, Dier, Eriksen and Lloris were not involved in training on Tuesday
- READ MORE: Tottenham line up important replacement, ideal target identified
Tottenham have secured their place in the knockout stage of the Champions League, and so Mauricio Pochettino is expected to ring the changes in midweek.
Spurs will advance as group winners in Group H as they look to end the phase in positive fashion when they take on APOEL Nicosia at Wembley on Wednesday night.
However, perhaps with one eye on the Stoke City game at the weekend and with a busy festive schedule ahead, Pochettino looks set to rest key players in their next outing.
As per Football London, Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Christian Eriksen and Hugo Lloris all didn’t take part in training with the rest of the group on Tuesday, giving us a big indication that the quartet will be rested against APOEL.
In contrast, youngsters Kazaiah Sterling and Luke Amos took part, and they’ll be pushing to get the nod to feature at some stage as Pochettino has shown since he arrived at the club that he’s more than willing to give young players an opportunity to impress in the senior side.
Whoever gets the green light to play, Pochettino will importantly want to see a reaction and a positive result as his side have struggled for form more recently.
Defeats to Arsenal and Leicester City and draws with West Bromwich Albion and Watford have seen them slump in the Premier League, and so perhaps a win in Europe will kick-start their campaign again.
As noted in the tweet below from freelance injury analyst Ben Dinnery, Tottenham won’t be able to call upon Toby Alderweireld, Victor Wanyama and Erik Lamela through a combination of injuries and ineligibility.
Alderweireld [hamstring], Wanyama [knee] and Lamela [ineligible] are all unavailable for tomorrow’s UCL tie. While Pochettino will rest “some players” he confirms Dele Alli will feature along with academy players Kazaiah Sterling and Luke Amos. #COYS
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) December 5, 2017