Jose Mourinho has explained the reasons behind the changes to his starting line-up for the Premier League clash against Bournemouth.
Eric Dier's suspension saw Jan Vertonghen come in at the heart of defence, while Erik Lamela and Steven Bergwijn were named on the wings ahead of Son Heung-Min and Lucas Moura.
Asked about his decision ahead of the game, he stated that he felt both players deserved their chance from the start and hoped to see a much-improved performance compared to the display against Sheffield United.
“If we had problems before the championship was stopped, if we had so many problems in attack with no options to play, in this moment we have, even with Dele Alli injury, we have five players, all of them of great quality," he told Sky Sports.
"So it’s one of these positions where we have so many matches, Lucas, Son, Bergwijn, Lamela, all of them are in the same positions, great players, I trust them all, I think it’s important also for Lamela and Bergwijn to have this start.
“In the last two weeks, we had our team against Sheffield United, we had our team in the other three matches. Which one are we going to have today?
"I would love to see it independent of the result because it’s unpredictable and you never know what will happen. I would like to see them with the focus, the desire, the sacrifice that I saw in other matches.”
