Team to face Monaco

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TALK

The team to face Monaco at home in the opening UEFA Champions League fixture is a tough one to call. The Premier League take priority, but this is the UEFA Champions League and we will want to do well. The group, to be honest, is there to be won so we should be looking to win it, not just qualify.

Starting well will be important and we have a lot of games coming up, we have just played the first of 7 games in 20 days. Squad rotation will be vital and having a squad where you can bring players in who don't weaken the team essential.

Hugo Lloris will obviously start in goal and Kyle Walker may be rested at right-back. Kieran Trippier may take over alongside Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Ben Davies, with Danny Rose out injured.

Eric Dier is a warhorse and seems to just keep going and I'd expect to see him partnering the returning Moussa Dembele. Not only does he need game time but we need to rotate the squad also and he is not a bad rotation option! I don't think we'll be throwing in Harry Winks or Tom Carroll for such an important game and Wanyama may be set for a rest..

Harry Kane will start as the lone striker which just leaves the three behind him. Playing a French side Georges-Kevin N'Koudou could make the bench, depending upon what Pochettino has seen in training. It is more likely though that he will wait until the League Cup tie against Gillingham to introduce him.

Moussa Sissoko could well be set for more minutes from the bench as Pochettino looks to ease him into the Spurs way of doing things.

Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Erik Lamela and Son Heung-min look to be fighting for three places. Despite his two goal haul at the weekend Son may take his place on the bench and be used again against Sunderland at the weekend.

Lamela, Eriksen, Alli and Kane are the four players most used to playing together so for the opening game, where we would want to get off to a winning start, sticking with these four makes sense.

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