Tottenham have confirmed that Japhet Tanganga will miss Sunday’s meeting with Everton due to a thigh injury. The 21-year-old, who has taken the No. 25 shirt for 2020/21, damaged his tendon in pre-season and will be out of action for a few weeks, according to the Daily Express.
Jose Mourinho has Toby Alderweireld, Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier and Juan Foyth to call upon in Tanganga’s absence, however, so we can still put out a strong side ahead of the Everton clash. We took four points off the Toffees in 2019/20 and have won our opening Premier League game in each of the last three seasons, so we could get off to the perfect start this weekend.
How could we line up against Everton?
Alderweireld amassed more playing time (3768 minutes) than any other Tottenham player last season and is our most senior defender following Jan Vertonghen’s move to Benfica, so he should start against Everton. Sanchez racked up the third-highest amount of minutes (3269) in 2019/20, so he could partner the Belgian international on Sunday.
Dier has featured at centre-back on occasion, so he could be a left-field option. Outside of that, Foyth is available for Mourinho, but his future at Tottenham is up in the air so he may be distracted. I believe we could line up with Hugo Lloris in goal, Ben Davies at left-back, Alderweireld at centre-back, Sanchez at centre-back and new-boy Matt Doherty at right-back.
When could Tanganga return?
If Tanganga will be out for a ‘few weeks’, he could miss the entirety of September. And with only one game in October before the international break, the 21-year-old should probably aim to return when club football is back next month.
Spurs’ next six games (all comps)
- 13/9/20 (Premier League) v Everton
- 17/9/20 (Europa League) v Lokomotiv Plovdiv
- 20/9/20 (Premier League) v Southampton
- 27/9/20 (Premier League) v Newcastle United
- 3/10/20 (Premier League) v Manchester United
International break
- 17/10/20 (Premier League) v West Ham United
The England U20 international has made 11 appearances in all competitions for Spurs and impressed under Mourinho last season, so he’ll be desperate to return for the sake of his development.
In other news, Villarreal are interested in Juan Foyth as Jose Mourinho has final say on a transfer 8am