Micky van de Ven decision made as £30m man drops out: Tottenham predicted starting XI v AZ

Tottenham Hotspur will get their Europa League knockout campaign under way on Thursday night when they head to AZ Alkmaar.

Spurs will be facing the Dutch outfit for the second time this season, having beaten them 1-0 in a group stage game back in October.

Tottenham go into the Europa League last-16 first leg on the back of a 1-0 loss to Manchester City, though they’ve since had eight days of rest in between matches.

Meanwhile, AZ lost 3-1 to Heerenveen last time out, though their penultimate game saw them overcome Heracles in the Dutch Cup semi-finals to reach the final.

TBR Football looks at who Ange Postecoglou could name in the Tottenham starting XI for the 5:45pm kick-off at the AFAS Stadion.

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Tottenham team news v AZ

Postecoglou told reporters at Wednesday’s pre-match press conference that Dejan Kulusevski didn’t travel with the squad as he has a foot issue.

The Tottenham boss stressed that it’s “nothing serious” and won’t require surgery, but he’s likely to be out until after the international break.

Postecoglou also confirmed that “Ben Davies is also back [home] at the training ground with Richarlison.”

Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Dominic Solanke are all back in full training, though Postecoglou was coy about their chances of starting at AZ.

Cristian Romero could come in as Archie Gray drops out

Postecoglou will be eager to balance Tottenham’s desire to go far in the Europa League with getting back on track in the Premier League.

In addition, the Spurs boss will be wary of rushing returning players back into the fold too soon.

With that in mind, there’s a good chance he’ll go with a fairly strong squad, albeit with some rotations.

We predict that Cristian Romero will start, as he returned to training last week, and play alongside Kevin Danso.

Djed Spence is likely to start as he began the Man City game on the bench. This would be his first start in the Europa League this season.

And Pedro Porro, who was given a rest against Ipswich, is likely to complete the back four, with Guglielmo Vicario in goal just behind.

This would mean Destiny Udogie and Archie Gray would get a rest, with the £30million summer signing now well positioned to get more game time in midfield.

Tottenham’s midfield could well remain the same as it was last time, namely Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison.

Finally, the front three is likely to see Son Heung-min return, with Wilson Odobert – who did well against Man City – on the left.

Brennan Johnson could complete the front three, which means Mathys Tel would get a rest and perhaps be called upon from the bench.

Tottenham predicted starting XI v AZ (4-3-3): Vicario; Porro, Romero, Danso, Spence; Bergvall, Bentancur, Maddison; Johnson, Son, Odobert