Former Premier League striker Noel Whelan has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur can’t afford to rest players in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
With three fixtures across these next eight days, Antonio Conte will be tasked with correctly rotating his squad.
The Italian coach may be tempted to shuffle his pack on Wednesday night with Eintracht Frankfurt coming to town before a face-off with Everton on Saturday evening.
However, Spurs aren’t exactly in a position to field a weakened side despite being second in Group D, as they could potentially go bottom if results go against them on matchday four.
Whelan has now claimed that no player will want to miss out despite the demanding schedule, telling Football Insider: “It’s pretty much the same for every team now.
“They’ve got to take control of the group and play their best team in order to get through to the knockout stages.
“They don’t quite have the depth that Man City have, so the players will have to be ready for this period. They have to get the rest and recovery right.
“But don’t tell me that any player will want to miss out on any of these three games.
“They know it’s going to be tough, and it’s not ideal – but that’s why they get paid lots of money.
“It’d be very dangerous for Antonio Conte to leave even three or four of their best players out against Frankfurt to rest them.”
TIF Thoughts on Whelan’s comments…
Should Hojbjerg be given a rest in the UCL?
Yes
No
Hugo Lloris and Eric Dier are the only two Spurs players to have played every minute this season, while Harry Kane and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg aren’t too far behind.
Emerson Royal is suspended domestically so could well be in line to feature against Frankfurt, while Ivan Perisic and Richarlison were used as substitutes in the win over Brighton & Hove Albion at the weekend.
Conte switched to a 3-5-2 formation against the Seagulls, which involved using three centre-midfielders including Yves Bissouma, but it will be interesting to see who is in the engine room on Wednesday night considering the volume of games throughout the rest of the month.