Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has named a full strength side to face Spurs in their FA Cup Fourth-Round tie this evening.
The Austrian looks to have gone for his usual 4-2-2-2 setup and will be looking to trouble the hosts’ defence with varied attacking play.
Interestingly, Sofiane Boufal has been handed a start in place of Moussa Djenepo, who drops out of the matchday squad.
Spurs have also gone with a strong line-up given that they are contending with a number of injuries to key men.
Dele Alli is on the bench for today after picking up a knock against Manchester City at the weekend, whilst Jose Mourinho looks to be lining his side up in a 4-3-3 system.
(Full teams below)
💛 Y E L L O W S 🖤
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) February 5, 2020
Here’s the #SaintsFC side that will face #THFC tonight: pic.twitter.com/z1415W3QQc
Spurs team
Hugo Lloris, Serge Aurier, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Japhet Tanganga, Eric Dier, Harry Winks, Tanguy Ndombele, Ryan Sessegnon, Lucas Moura, Son Hueng-Min
Substitutes: Paulo Gazzaniga, Davinson Sanchez, Dele Alli, Gedson Fernandes, Dennis Cirkin, Oliver Skipp, Troy Parrott
Saints team
Angus Gunn, James Ward-Prowse, Jack Stephens, Jan Bednarek, Ryan Bertrand, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Oriol Romeu, Sofiane Boufal, Nathan Redmond, Danny Ings, Shane Long
Substitutes: Harry Lewis, Jannik Vestergaard, Jake Vokins, Stuart Armstrong, Will Smallbone, Michael Obafemi, Che Adams
In his pre-match press conference, Ralph Hasenhuttl confirmed that Stuart Armstrong was “ahead of schedule” whilst recovering from a hip injury he picked up in the first cup meeting with Spurs, and the midfielder returns to the bench here.
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Yan Valery is also set to return to action soon but – like Armstrong – is not ready to start in North London.
Spurs are without long-term absentees Harry Kane and Moussa Sissoko, who are both set to come back into contention near the end of the season.
Jose Mourinho confirmed that Ben Davies has returned to training ahead of this game, whilst Dele Alli has made the squad despite picking up an ankle injury against Manchester City on Sunday.
It remains to be seen how the evening’s replay will play out, but the first game produced a well-fought contest with both sides fielding strong teams.
Son Hueng-Min opened the scoring just before the hour when he fired across goal and found the bottom corner expertly, but Sofiane Boufal made sure that Saints stayed in the tie by slamming home Danny Ings’ cutback late on.
Both Ralph Hasenhuttl and Jose Mourinho have spoken about how they would rather not have a replay.
The Premier League are supposed to be on a winter break, but today’s match sees Saints and Spurs with an extra fixture to contend with.
Winning tonight’s tie sets up a home meeting in the Fifth-Round of the FA Cup with Norwich City, who progressed after a 2-1 victory over Burnley 11 days ago.