Tottenham were blown apart by Chelsea in the second half on Sunday, falling 4-3 to the Blues. Now, Spurs sit 11th in the Premier League table and are nearing a crisis point with injuries mounting defensively again after both Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero went down shortly after their returns.
This weekend, Tottenham will return to action in the Premier League with an easier matchup on paper against Southampton, who sit a clear last place in the English top flight with a meager five points through 15 games and a -20 goal differential.
However, even the worst team in the Premier League is capable of threatening the best team, as Southampton pushed Liverpool to their limit a few weeks back and could very well do the same at home against a spiraling Tottenham.
After he picked up a fifth yellow card last weekend against Chelsea, center midfielder Yves Bissouma will be suspended for the Matchday 16 tilt against the Saints, necessitating a replacement to line up alongside Dejan Kulusevski and Pape Sarr.
Tottenham already have depth questions in midfield, and even their starting trio with Bissouma available last weekend wasn’t nearly good enough against Chelsea, getting torn apart by a legitimately world-class axis in Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez.
The best option Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham have against the worst team in the Premier League is to turn to young prospect Archie Gray, w[hom the club invested a gaudy 30 million pounds in](https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cl7ygepxxldo).
Dominic Solanke, not Gray, was the most expensive Tottenham transfer of the summer window, but the teenage sensation was the crown jewel in terms of the waves he made.
Gray, at 18, has already started one game in the Premier League for Tottenham, and this is as good of a chance to play him as any. He can’t do worse than Bissouma did against Chelsea, and Southampton are an easier opponent.
With Tottenham dropping points left and right, now is the time to trust a young player with star potential to rise to the occasion. There is no downside in starting Gray, and these kinds of games where a prospect steps in for a so-so veteran who is injured or suspended are sometimes the one where a great story – or even a legend – is born.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.