Tottenham vs Roma predicted lineups and team news | OneFootball

The Europa League has reached Matchday Five and Tottenham Hotspur will be aiming to make it three home wins from three as they welcome Roma on Thursday, live on TNT Sports 1 at 8pm.

Tottenham vs Roma predicted lineups

Tottenham (4-2-3-1): Forster; Gray, Dragusin, Davies, Udogie; Bergvall, Bentancur; Kulusevski, Werner, Johnson; Solanke

Roma (4-4-1-1): Svilar; Celik, Mancini, Ndicka, Angelino; Kone, Cristante, Pellegrini, El Shaarawy; Pellegrini; Dovbyk

Tottenham are inside the top eight and on course to move straight through to the last 16 in the spring. But Ange Postecoglou will know the job is only half done and some overall consistency is needed for his Lilywhites side.

Spurs get a chance to kick on

A lot of eyebrows were raised when Postecoglou brazenly declared that his second season at a club is when he tends to bring a trophy to the party.

It was confident talk from the Tottenham boss, even allowing for the fact that statistically it backs up from his time in Australia, Japan and Scotland.

Before the international break, successive losses at Galatasaray and at home against Ipswich Town left Postecoglou with plenty to ponder.

His team responded with a 4-0 demolition of Manchester City at the Etihad last weekend. They had to ride out a storm early on but from the moment James Maddison put them ahead, Tottenham were excellent and fully deserving of their victory.

Now the challenge is to kick on from that. With silverware the stated aim from the man in the dugout, Tottenham have a key run from now until facing Liverpool on December 22nd.

They have Roma and Rangers in the Europa League, with the former Celtic boss assured of a very warm welcome back in Glasgow. Domestically, there’s an EFL Cup quarter-final at home to Manchester United and league games against Fulham, Bournemouth and Southampton as well as Chelsea.

It’s going to be a busy spell, with eight games before Christmas Day, and it could shape Tottenham’s season.

Given the hectic fixture schedule, the last thing Postecoglou wants is an extra two-legged Europa League play-off in the spring. Finishing in the top eight of the league phase will bypass that and winning their home games is going to be pivotal.

Roma, meanwhile, are struggling, with Claudio Ranieri already their third manager of the season.

The veteran came out of retirement to try to help and has picked up a side who sit 12th in Serie A, closer to the relegation zone than the top six.

The Italian side may not even see this game as a key priority and Tottenham simply need to take care of business.

Tottenham vs Roma team news

Tottenham will have Fraser Forster between the sticks with Guglielmo Vicario out injured, while Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies are likely to feature in central defence.

Banned domestically, Rodrigo Bentancur is available here and likely gets the nod to start, while youngsters Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall may also appear in the starting XI.

Postecoglou has tended to go strong in attack in Europe, with Dejan Kulusevski, Brennan Johnson and Dominic Solanke all likely to start.

Ranieri suffered a 1-0 loss at Napoli in his first game in charge, a contest in which Roma had just one shot on target, and he will remain without Mario Hermoso, Alexis Saelemaekers and Eldor Shomurodov.

Paulo Dybala came off the bench late on in Naples after an injury and may start, although he has been used sparingly in the Europa League this season.