Tottenham go to Chelsea on Saturday 24 October (17:30 BST, Stamford Bridge) five days after their first league win of the season, and Roberto De Zerbi’s team news is dominated by three players who left the pitch hurt in Monday’s 3-1 win over Coventry City: Andy Robertson, Tosin Adarabioyo and Omar Marmoush are all awaiting assessment. Our view is that De Zerbi returns to a back four, starts Ben Davies at left-back, and keeps Dejan Kulusevski on the bench.
Spurs beat Coventry 3-1 at home on Monday night to move up to 16th on six points, with James Maddison scoring on his first league start in 536 days, Marmoush restoring the lead in the 58th minute and Ben Davies adding the third in the 90+6th minute. The full story of that night is in our Tottenham 3-1 Coventry player ratings. Chelsea, fourth after back to back wins, named their side earlier this week in our Chelsea predicted lineup against Tottenham.
The predicted XI
Tottenham predicted XI (4-2-3-1)
Solanke
Tel
Maddison
Kudus
Tonali
Gallagher
Davies
Van de Ven
Van Hecke
Gray
Kinsky
Antonin Kinsky keeps his place in goal. In front of him, Archie Gray moves to right-back, the position he filled for the last 20 minutes on Monday once the defensive injuries hit, with Jan Paul van Hecke and Micky van de Ven as the centre-backs and Ben Davies at left-back. Sandro Tonali anchors midfield next to Conor Gallagher, Mohammed Kudus and Mathys Tel play either side of James Maddison, and Dominic Solanke leads the line.
Why the shape changes at Stamford Bridge
De Zerbi explained his back three against Coventry in his own words after the game: he played three at the back because of injured players in the midfield positions, and because he wanted more control against the counter-attack. That shortage has eased. Gallagher, who had only returned from injury two days before the Coventry game, got minutes off the bench on Monday, and Mateus Fernandes also came on after training for two days following the birth of his child. With two midfielders back in contention, the reason for the extra centre-back goes away, and a back four is the shape Spurs used at Manchester United on 10 October. Our reading of Monday’s shape, and why reports labelled it differently, is in our explainer on Tottenham’s formation against Coventry.
The three injury doubts
Robertson began to hobble around the hour on Monday, went down favouring his left leg and came off around the 70th minute. Davies replaced him and scored the third goal, so Davies is the straightforward starter if Robertson does not recover. Tosin, making his first Premier League start for Spurs, went down clutching his right calf and was replaced by Fernandes. Marmoush scored the second goal and then came off with a calf problem in the final five minutes, with Tel taking his place. The club had given no update on how serious any of the three problems is at the time of writing, and the full picture is set out in our Robertson, Tosin and Marmoush injury update. If Marmoush is passed fit, he takes the left-sided attacking place from Tel in this XI.
Behind them, Pedro Porro is a doubt. He injured a hamstring in the 3-2 loss at Aston Villa on 19 September and has not played since, and he missed the Coventry squad. Destiny Udogie was also left out on Monday with a knee problem, while Savio, Lucas Bergvall, Xavi Simons, Wilson Odobert and Mykhailo Mudryk were all absent from that squad as well.
Midfield cover and the bench
Rodrigo Bentancur serves the second game of his three-match suspension on Saturday, so he is not available at Stamford Bridge. That is why Gallagher’s return matters: he and Fernandes are the two options next to Tonali, and Gallagher’s minutes on Monday, in a game Spurs were chasing control of after Coventry’s equaliser, point to him starting. Kulusevski’s position is simpler. He came on in the 87th minute on Monday for his first appearance in 526 days, and nine minutes after a knee injury of that length is a return to build on from the bench, not a start at Stamford Bridge five days later. Maddison, by contrast, started on Monday, scored after 14 minutes and played 69 minutes, so he keeps the number 10 role.
Spurs’ next game after Chelsea is at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday 31 October, and De Zerbi’s press conference later this week is the next confirmed update on Robertson, Tosin and Marmoush.
The lineup in full
Tottenham (4-2-3-1): Kinsky; Gray, Van Hecke, Van de Ven, Davies; Tonali, Gallagher; Kudus, Maddison, Tel; Solanke.