Here's the Tottenham team that Roberto De Zerbi has selected to face Aston Villa in the early Premier League kick-off on Saturday
Mateus Fernandes has managed to prove Roberto De Zerbi's strange Tottenham theory wrong twice
Mateus Fernandes has been named in Roberto De Zerbi's Tottenham starting line-up to face Aston Villa(Image: (Photo by Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images))
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Roberto De Zerbi has selected his Tottenham starting line-up to take on Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday.
Spurs are look for their first goal and first win of the Premier League season after shooting blanks in their first four matches of the season. They welcome Unai Emery's men in Saturday's lunchtime kick-off with Villa also struggling to get goine, with only one goal themselves in the league so far.
De Zerbi will be looking for more of the better attacking play shown in the midweek defeat at Liverpool in the Carabao Cup but after a first start for Mohammed Kudus since January 4, the Ghana international returns to the bench with Mateus Fernandes in the number 10 role.
With James Maddison yet to hit the required fitness levels to begin the match after 18 months without a Premier League start, the midfielder remains among the substitutes, looking to make an impact from the bench.
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Sandro Tonali returns to the starting line-up after missing the trip to Anfield with a knock and Pedro Porro is fit to return at right-back. At left-back, with Andy Robertson and Destiny Udogie impressing respectively in the games against Everton and Liverpool, it is the Scot who gets the nod. There is no room on the bench for Mathys Tel, the experienced Ben Davies or youngster Luca Williams-Barnett.
Here's the Spurs team that De Zerbi has named to face Villa with one change from the side that faced Everton last weekend:
Kinsky; Porro, Van Hecke, Van de Ven, Robertson; Bentancur, Tonali; Savio, Fernandes, Marmoush; Solanke. Subs: Dubravka, Tosin, Senesi, Udogie, Gray, Bergvall, Gallagher, Maddison, Kudus.