Journalist Alasdair Gold has predicted that Ryan Sessegnon will start over Ivan Perisic for Tottenham Hotspur in their game on Sunday afternoon.
What’s the word?
Despite having only played Manchester City a matter of weeks ago, the two sides meet yet again in the Premier League this weekend.
That time out Spurs squandered a two-goal lead at halftime to lose 4-2, this time around Antonio Conte’s men will hope to perform much better in front of their own fans.
The club’s Italian manager likely won’t be at the stadium after having to have surgery to remove his gallbladder but he still would have been involved in picking the team with assistant Cristian Stellini who will coach the team in Conte’s absence.
Between the two, they will have some big decisions as to who should start this game and perhaps the biggest area of doubt comes on the left flank.
Writing before the game, Gold predicted on football.london, that Perisic’s poor display at the Etihad could cost him his spot with Sessegnon getting the start.
The journalist said: “At left wing-back between Ivan Perisic and Ryan Sessegnon. The Croatian had a nightmare against City at the Etihad Stadium but the faster Sessegnon has not been in top form in recent weeks.”
Gold’s team full was: “Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Emerson, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Sessegnon; Kulusevski, Kane, Son”.
Important decisions
Perisic did keep his spot in the team the following week and helped Spurs pick up all three points and keep a clean sheet against Fulham with a 1-0 win away from home.
However, his outing at the Etihad was pretty dismal. Indeed, after that game journalist Rob Guest noted that the 23-year-old was at fault for three City goals with Riyad Mahrez getting the better of him on multiple occasions.
Conte may well be wary of a similar issue occurring in this game and so it would make sense to bring in Sessegnon. After all, in his last league start – the 2-0 home loss against Arsenal – he made three tackles and wasn’t dribbled past once despite facing up against the likes of Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard (via SofaScore).
