Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has had a full week to ready his players for Sunday’s visit of Manchester United in the Premier League.
Mourinho welcomes his old club to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon looking to complete a double this campaign after the 6-1 victory over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side at Old Trafford earlier in the season.
For the first time in this strange season, Mourinho has had a full training programme of seven days to work with his Tottenham players without a midweek fixture, international absentees or a late postponement in the middle of the week.
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He has also got a near full squad to choose from, with only full-backs Ben Davies and Matt Doherty missing through injury.
Mourinho will have to shake things up after the disappointing draw at St James Park and the sloppy defending late on in the game.
Toby Alderweireld and Serge Aurier could come in after their two-match absence and then it is all about whether Mourinho keeps faith in Joe Rodon or Davinson Sanchez, with the Colombian having a tough day at the office at Newcastle.
The Alderweireld and Rodon partnership, as a duo, is the one pairing at the back yet to be seen starting a Premier League game this season.
Decisions will also have to be made in the attacking midfield positions because Spurs need to create more chances than they did at Newcastle and Aston Villa but they will also need some cover for the full-backs.
Tottenham need Gareth Bale back in the form he was in for the month before the north London derby but in that defeat at Arsenal he left Doherty exposed.
One solution might be to play the Welshman in a more central role and allow someone like Lucas Moura, Giovani Lo Celso or Erik Lamela to play out wide and help Aurier.
Using Lo Celso could allow Tottenham to switch from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 when required during the match and get more bodies into the midfield.
Here is the team we reckon Mourinho could go for:
4-2-3-1 (and a 4-3-3): Lloris; Aurier, Alderweireld, Rodon, Reguilon; Hojbjerg, Ndombele; Lo Celso, Bale, Son; Kane.