Bentancur return, Werner decision, Son sub - The Tottenham team Postecoglou should pick vs Roma

Tottenham return to Europa League action on Thursday evening when they welcome Italian side Roma to north London. Ange Postecoglou's men have made a strong start to the competition so far but they were on the losing side last time out after falling to a 3-2 defeat away at Galatasaray.

Spurs should certainly go into Thursday's game full of confidence after hitting Manchester City for four last weekend. Three points are required to ensure Tottenham keep themselves in the top eight of the Europa League league phase heading into their final three fixtures.

Roma, on the other hand, are currently 20th in the 36-team league after only obtaining one win from their first four games. The Giallorossi have endured such a disappointing season to date and they are already on their third head coach of the term after Claudio Ranieri recently replaced Ivan Juric in the hotseat.

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Tottenham go into Thursday's game with a very busy treatment room at present after Guglielmo Vicario became the latest player to face a spell on the sidelines. So how exactly do they line up against Roma in their fifth Europa League fixture of the term? Our Spurs writers at football.london have had their say below.

Alasdair Gold - Tottenham Hotspur correspondent

Options are at a premium for Postecoglou right now as the injuries mount up. Guglielmo Vicario is now out for months with his fractured ankle and while Fraser Forster was likely to start against Roma anyway, he will need the game time to get him tuned up and into his rhythm to face Fulham on Sunday. There's also another line of thinking that Brandon Austin could probably do with some game time in case he's needed at some point.

Postecoglou will also provide the latest on Destiny Udogie at his press conference at Hotspur Way on Wednesday after the Italian full-back went off injured at Man City, while Timo Werner also looked to feel a muscle problem after setting up Brennan Johnson's late goal. The Spurs boss will also provide the latest on Cristian Romero and when he will return to action.

Will Lankshear is suspended after his red card in Istanbul so Postecoglou's only real options to change things in the outfield will include the two 18-year-olds Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall as well as Rodrigo Bentancur, who can play in European competition as his ban is only for domestic games.

Gold's team: Forster; Porro, Dragusin, Davies, Gray; Kulusevski, Bentancur, Bergvall; Johnson, Solanke, Werner.

Rob Guest - Football writer

Ange Postecoglou cannot really make a host a changes to his Tottenham team to take on Roma due to the amount of players in the treatment room at present. However, that's not necessarily a bad thing as he should only be making a few alterations here and there for such an important game.

It's an easy one in goal as Fraser Forster starts his third successive Europa League match with no Guglielmo Vicario to call upon. The only change to defence from Saturday's win at Manchester City should see Archie Gray come in at left-back in place of Destiny Udogie.

Rodrigo Bentancur is available for this game despite his domestic suspension and Spurs need to ensure that he starts in order to keep his fitness levels up prior to his Premier League return in late December. The Uruguayan is then joined in midfield by Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison, which is in fact the same midfield trio that took on AZ Alkmaar in October.

As Will Lankshear is suspended and Richarlison injured, Dominic Solanke leads the line with Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner either side of him. Players such as Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski can then be options to come off the bench if required.

Guest's team: Forster; Porro, Dragusin, Davies, Gray; Bentancur, Bergvall, Maddison; Johnson, Solanke, Werner.

Lee Wilmot - Head of Football

Well, goalkeeper is a no brainer, as usual, but for different reasons now. With Guglielmo Vicario out injured Fraser Forster starts between the sticks.

Ahead of him we have to go as strong as we can, albeit with one slight tweak perhaps.

Pedro Porro is my right-back, with Radu Dragusin and Archie Gray at centre-back. That means we can move Ben Davies out to left-back to give Destiny Udogie a rest.

In midfield I'd play Yves Bissouma with Pape Matar Sarr and Lucas Bergvall.

Up top it should be Timo Werner on one side with Brennan Johnson on the other, with Dominic Solanke selected through the middle as Richarlison and Will Lankshear are unavailable.

Wilmot's team: Forster; Porro, Gray, Dragusin, Davies; Bissouma, Sarr, Bergvall; Johnson, Solanke, Werner.

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