All eyes will be on Ange Postecoglou's centre-back selection when Tottenham host AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League on Thursday evening. Opting for Kevin Danso and Archie Gray as the pairing in the Netherlands last week despite the return of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven to the matchday squad, things could certainly look different at the back in the return leg.
Postecoglou did shuffle things about in defence for Sunday's 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth, with Romero partnering Danso as the World Cup winner made his first appearance of 2025. Last featuring for Spurs in the 4-3 defeat at home to Chelsea in December after sustaining a thigh issue, the 26-year-old understandably looked rather rusty and almost gifted the Cherries an opener after 25 seconds with a poor pass that Evanilson failed to convert.
Romero, who captained Spurs on the day, fared better as the game wore on before making way for Micky van de Ven on 61 minutes. Speaking after the game, Postecoglou opened up on his returning players and went into a bit more detail on Romero's showing.
"Yeah, that's the key thing, they got minutes," he explained. "Romero just great to get him back out there. He's such an important player for us but you could see he hasn't played for a while. I thought he grew into the game and got a lot better as it went on.
"Great for Dom to get 90 minutes today, he's such a workhorse for us and I'm sure he'll feel better for that. Brilliant to get Micky out there as well. I think before Thursday night that was key for us to get some minutes into these guys and thankfully they got through it unscathed."
On Romero, he added: "Not surprised, he hasn’t played for a very long time. He's hardly played this year to be fair. Cuti will be disappointed with that himself but at the same time what was much more important for me was how grew into his game, his defensive work, his aerial ability.
"I mean he was on the end of almost every cross they put into the box from corners and I think for him he will feel a lot better just having played. The idea was only to play 45 today, but he was keen to stay on for a bit longer and you could see he grew into the game and was really important for us."
A huge boost to have his first-choice defensive pairing available to him once again after so long in the treatment room, Postecoglou now faces a crucial call over whether one of the duo starts against AZ or they are both in from the off. In a match where Tottenham's season is on the line, some may have reservations about starting two players with a real lack of minutes to their name in recent months.
However, the head coach's "I think before Thursday night that was key for us to get some minutes into these guys" comment from his post-match press conference could potentially hint at starting berths and key roles for both Romero and Van de Ven. That would particularly be harsh on Danso if he dropped out of the XI but the Austrian said ahead of last week's game in the Netherlands that he is "looking forward to that challenge" with his fellow centre-backs and that he is "going to push them, they're going to push me".
There is of course Gray to consider for the centre-back role despite the return of Romero and Van de Ven. The teenager was a shining light for Tottenham in a position he is not familiar with and he will also be refreshed after not featuring at all against Bournemouth on Sunday.
Postecoglou has plenty of options in such a key position for the first time in a long time and his final selection may well spark debate amongst fans. Whoever he picks hopefully proves to be the right choice as Tottenham look to come from behind to secure a spot in the final eight of the Europa League.
Spurs' season-defining game and the big Archie Gray question - click here to listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham.