Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Football London
Football London
Sport
Alasdair Gold & Rob Guest

Defensive change made and Winks recalled - The Tottenham team Conte should pick vs Chelsea

Antonio Conte makes his return to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening as Tottenham and Chelsea go head-to-head in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.

Departing the Blues in the summer of 2018 after two successful seasons in west London, the Italian will now face his former side for the first time since taking on the Spurs hotseat at the start of November.

Wednesday night's clash is the first of three meetings between the sides this month and both will have an eye on securing a place in next month's cup final at Wembley.

Tottenham go into the game on the back of a late 1-0 win at Watford last time out and Conte is likely to make a couple of changes to his side having revealed in his pre-match press conference that they are checking "a couple" of Covid situations.

So how exactly could Spurs line up against the Champions League holders?

We asked our Spurs correspondents Alasdair Gold and Rob Guest to select the team that they reckon Conte could select to take on Thomas Tuchel's men.

Alasdair Gold - Tottenham Hotspur correspondent

Both sides are set to have issues going into this game with Antonio Conte announcing more Covid problems and some injury issues in Spurs' camp.

Cristian Romero, Steven Bergwijn and Ryan Sessegnon remain out for now while Giovani Lo Celso made his first appearance on Saturday following his injury.

Conte will have a midfield decision with Harry Winks pushing for a start and his experience of these fierce derby matches could come in handy.

With Morecambe to come in the FA Cup at the weekend, the Spurs boss can go for a mostly stronger team to face Chelsea and then rest people against the League One strugglers.

Gold's team: Lloris; Tanganga, Sanchez, Davies; Emerson, Winks, Hojbjerg, Reguilon; Lucas, Kane, Son.

Rob Guest - Tottenham Hotspur reporter

The Carabao Cup does usually see managers make changes to their team but it remains to be seen what exactly Antonio Conte will do against Chelsea.

Having gone strong against West Ham in the previous round and only made a couple of alterations here and there, the Italian may opt to do the same at Chelsea with a place at Wembley on the horizon.

For that reason, Conte should go near enough full strength at Stamford Bridge as they look to get the better of Chelsea.

Japhet Tanganga could come into the backline as part of a defensive change, with Conte then having to decide whether Harry Winks also gets the nod in midfield.

As Morecambe are to come on Sunday in the FA Cup, the likes of Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura remain either side of Harry Kane in the front three rather than giving players such as Giovani Lo Celso and Bryan Gil a start.

Guest's team: Lloris; Tanganga, Sanchez, Davies; Emerson, Hojbjerg, Skipp, Reguilon; Lucas, Kane, Son

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.