Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte must make a ruthless decision ahead of their Premier League encounter with Newcastle United this afternoon.
The Italian head coach is facing plenty of selection decisions as his side looks to maintain ground in the race for a top-four finish and with teams slipping up around them, there won’t be a better chance to solidify their claims.
Eddie Howe has turned things around at the Magpies, winning three of their last five in the competition – a run of form that has seen them rise from the brink of an end-of-season relegation battle to near-enough survival.
And he has quite the threat upfront in Chris Wood, who swapped Turf Moor for St James’ Park during the January transfer window. Perhaps not the big-name signing many expected under their new Saudi backers but quite an astute addition, all things considered.
The 30-year-old marksman hasn’t scored as many goals as he’d have liked in the black and white, with just one goal from ten appearances, but having played 100% of minutes in those matches, it’s clear that Howe trusts him and his attacking credentials.
He has won a whopping 8.8 aerial duels won per game since signing for the northeast outfit, which is the most in the Premier League but quite some margin, eclipsing his 5.5 headers won at Burnley and far exceeding anyone in the Spurs squad, as per WhoScored.
This aerial threat will be something of a problem for Conte, even with three centre-backs being deployed, and at 5 foot 11, Ben Davies could be at risk from facing the axe.
The Welshman, dubbed “perfect” by ex-Lilywhites man Michael Dawson, withdrew from the Wales squad during the recent international break and whilst he is available for this clash, it may be wise to hold him back in case any lingering injury gets worse, whilst last time out, he was rated as one of Spurs’ worst-performing players in their 3-1 win over West Ham.
Those factors, combined with the fact that he’s a full-back playing out of position, should be enough for Conte to make a brutal and ruthless call to drop him from the starting XI when the two teams go head-to-head later today.
The 28-year-old star has won an average of only 2.2 headers per league outing this term, a mere fraction compared to the aerial threat of Wood, and last time out, he won only one of his three duels, failed to register a single tackle and lost possession eight times – and that was up against an out-of-sorts Michail Antonio.
A bit lightweight, in comparison to Howe’s big target man.
Therefore, it would be wise for Conte to ruthlessly axe the £18m-rated defender, who Jose Mourinho once lauded as “intelligent”, for this fixture, as he could well be dominated by the threat of Wood and co amid recent domestic form struggles and potential injury concerns.
AND in other news, Spurs dealt huge blow as early team news emerges ahead of Newcastle clash…