Big Ange has a selection headache when it comes to Tottenham’s midfield against Crystal Palace
Tottenham Hotspur travel to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace in what promises to be an exciting Premier League clash.
Spurs have done well to recover from the upsetting 3-2 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion, beating West Ham United and AZ Alkmaar after the international break. Ange Postecoglou will be happy with the way his team responded to the Brighton collapse, and after picking up a win in Europe in midweek, he’ll want another to follow it up with at Crystal Palace.
The Greek-Australian tactician made nine changes to this starting XI against AZ Alkmaar. One of those was Rodrigo Bentancur, who had come into the team in place of Yves Bissouma.
The Uruguayan international has been in and out of the team this season. He suffered a nasty collision with Abdul Fatawu in Spurs’ season opener at newly promoted Leicester City and was ruled out of the next league game against Everton due to concussion protocol.
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Before the 4-1 win over West Ham last weekend, Rodrigo Bentancur had started the last four league games for Spurs. The central midfielder managed to complete 90 minutes just once across those outings which came in the fantastic 3-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.
As for Yves Bissouma, he has seemingly recovered from a slow start to the season which was disrupted by an off-field issue. The Mali international didn’t feature at Leicester City due to being suspended by the club but returned against Everton with a bang, scoring a pile-driver in the 4-0 win.
A couple of niggling knee issues means the 28-year-old has only managed three league starts so far this term. Yves Bissouma was excellent at the heart of Spurs’ midfield in the big win over West Ham, dictating the tempo of play and breaking the opposition’s attacks. He had even netted a fine goal from just outside the box to help Spurs take a 2-1 advantage before half time.
Bentancur starting five league games when fit tells us clearly that he is ahead of Bissouma in the midfield pecking order. However, with the South American playing the whole European game in midweek and Bissouma being an unused substitute, the chances of the Mali international starting at Selhurst Park appear higher.
Having not featured against AZ Alkmaar, Bissouma should be fresh to start on Sunday. Bentancur may be better technically but he lacks the off-the-ball work rate and defensive qualities that Bissouma would bring to the table. Even though Palace have been extremely poor and are royally lacking in confidence, having a pure ball-winner in the team is always important in games away from home.
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That being said, Big Ange should start Bissouma as a No.6 ahead of Bentancur in his preferred 4-3-3 formation against Oliver Glasner’s side.
