Tottenham Hotspur will be without eight players for Thursday's Europa League last-16 first-leg clash with AZ Alkmaar at the AFAS Stadion.
Dejan Kulusevski, who was recently pictured wearing a protective boot on his left foot, has been ruled out and is unlikely to feature again before the international break due to injury. Radu Dragusin (ACL) is a long-term absentee, while Thursday's game will come too soon for both Richarlison (calf) and Ben Davies (load management).
Four players who are ineligible after being left out of Spurs' Europa League squad for the knockout rounds are Antonin Kinsky, Fraser Forster, Timo Werner and Sergio Reguilon, but Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero (both thigh) and Dominic Solanke (knee) have all been included in the matchday squad and are in contention to feature in some capacity after spells on the sidelines.
If Van de Ven and Romero are not fit to start, then Archie Gray and Kevin Danso are expected to resume their centre-back partnership, protecting goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, while Ange Postecoglou will weigh up whether to start Pedro Porro or in-form Djed Spence at right-back as Destiny Udogie operates at left-back.
Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma will both be pushing to start in centre-midfield after beginning as substitutes in last week's 1-0 Premier League defeat to Manchester City. Bissouma could replace Rodrigo Bentancur in the deep-lying role, while Sarr may start ahead of either Lucas Bergvall or James Maddison.
Like Danso, fellow January signing Mathys Tel has been added to Tottenham's Europa League squad and he is in contention to start in attack with Brennan Johnson and Son Heung-min, who has scored seven major European knockout goals for Spurs; only Dimitar Berbatov (12) has scored more for the club this century.
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup: Vicario; Spence, Gray, Danso, Udogie; Maddison, Bissouma, Sarr; Johnson, Tel, Son
Oliver Thomas
