Mauricio Pochettino was in a tricky spot for tonight’s game.
On the one hand, his job is on the line and he desperately needs to get the home fans onside with good results.
On the other hand, he’s just used the same XI for two gruelling games in a row, and he simply can’t use those same players again tonight just 3 days later.
So the Argentine makes 5 changes, trying to keep a vague semblance of a team together while getting those most at risk of injury out of the side. It means a pretty odd selection, and we’re not even sure how they’ll line up.
The good news is that Leeds have done exactly the same thing – Crysensio Summerville, Georgino Rutter, Glen Kamara, Ilia Gruev, Patrick Bamford and Wilfried Gnonto are all starting on the bench.
This will be a spicy game regardless, simply because of the atmosphere, but the wide ranging changes by both teams may compromise the quality somewhat.
