Alasdair Gold: Antonio Conte faces big decision ahead of Spurs v Southampton

Football writer Alasdair Gold has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte has a big decision to make ahead of the club’s next game. 

As things stand, Spurs are seventh in the Premier League table, four points off the Champions League places. As the pressure begins to heat up even more with regard to the teams chasing the top four, each game feels more important than the last.

Having successfully navigated their way through a potentially tricky FA Cup tie against Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend, Conte and co must now host Southampton in the Premier League.

With that in mind, Gold published his predicted Tottenham starting XI on football.london and outlined what he felt the Italian manager has to weigh up.

He wrote: “Antonio Conte must decide between sticking with a winning Tottenham team and making changes during a busy week of fixtures.”

He went on to outline why the manager’s hand may be forced: “Southampton come to town as Spurs return to Premier League action on Wednesday night and the Tottenham boss will be without three injured players.

“He ruled Eric Dier and Oliver Skipp out following their respective thigh and groin injuries, as well as Japhet Tanganga with his knee problem.”

None of the aforementioned players were fit to play against the Seagulls, and so the opportunity to rotate as much as Conte would have perhaps liked has been reduced.

Taking that into account, he may prefer to play the exact team that beat Brighton 3-1 at home in the cup. However, with a second game of the week – against Wolves on Sunday – to consider as well, the manager may fear his players could suffer fatigue.

Fortunately, the January transfer window did see some fresh faces arrive in north London. The likes of Dejan