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Dragusin injury wait, Maddison starts - The Tottenham team Ange Postecoglou should pick vs Wolves

Question marks surround Radu Dragusin's fitness ahead of Tottenham vs Wolves
-Credit:Jon Hobley | MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images


The busy festive period continues for Tottenham on Sunday afternoon when they take on Wolves on home soil. Boxing Day proved to be one to forget for Ange Postecoglou and his side as they lost 1-0 at Nottingham Forest.

Spurs will face another stern test this weekend when Wolves make the trip to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Despite a really poor start to the campaign, the West Midlands club have recorded back-to-back wins under new head coach Vitor Pereira after getting the better of Leicester City and Manchester United.

Postecoglou once again will have limited options to work with due to a number of players remaining in the treatment room. So who exactly will be in his team to face Wolves? Our Spurs writers at football.london have had their say below:

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Rob Guest - Football writer

All eyes are going to be on who starts at centre-back this weekend following Radu Dragusin's late substitution at Nottingham Forest. Hopefully it's not a serious issue and the Romanian can take his place at the heart of defence.

Postecoglou didn't rule him out of the game and the fact that it is just a "tweak" could possibly signal that it is nothing too serious. However, this is Tottenham Hotspur we're talking about...

Keeping Dragusin in the team alongside Archie Gray for the time being, I would give Alfie Dorrington the nod at centre-back if Spurs' only out-and-out centre-back is in no position to play. Rather than dropping another midfielder into the backline, the academy ace should be given a go as he is a centre-back by trade. After all, if he is not going to start in Tottenham's hour of need then when is he ever going to start?

In midfield, James Maddison should come back into the team and the same goes for Yves Bissouma. With the Mali international reinstated, Rodrigo Bentancur can operate as a No.8 as Pape Matar Sarr really could do with a breather.

Son Heung-min is another player who may benefit from some time out of the side, thus seeing Dejan Kulusevski pushed into the front three alongside Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson.

Guest's team: Forster; Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Udogie; Bissouma, Bentancur, Maddison; Kulusevski, Solanke, Johnson.

Joe Doyle - Content editor

Well, where do you start with Spurs at the moment? First choice keeper out, first choice centre-backs out, second choice centre-backs potentially both out as well. It's not exactly glad tidings over the festive period.

Fraser Forster starts again in goal, and I think it'll have to be Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie right-back and left-back respectively. Then comes the centre. Archie Gray pretty much has to start at the moment. I get the feeling that Radu Dragusin will be able to shake off the "tweak" to his ankle as Ange Postecoglou called it - and then hopefully either Cristian Romero or Micky van de Ven will be ready to return by the time Spurs face Newcastle on January 4.

There's a bit of a conundrum in midfield. Rodrigo Bentancur should probably start after returning from his seven-game ban against Nottingham Forest, but I'd be tempted to rest Pape Matar Sarr for this one; he's started every game recently, and if Dragusin does need to come off, Yves Bissouma could slot back in at centre-back with Sarr coming off the bench.

Ahead of them, I'd also be tempted to give Son Heung-min a rest. He wasn't great at the City Ground, and while Timo Werner isn't exactly a great option to replace him, I'd fancy Brennan Johnson to give it a good go off the left. That means Dejan Kulusevski goes to the right, with James Maddison in the centre and Dominic Solanke up front. If you're going to go attacking, you might as well attack.

Doyle's team: Forster; Porro, Gray, Dragusin, Udogie; Bentancur, Bissouma, Maddison; Kulusevski, Solanke, Johnson.

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