Jose Mourinho claims Ben Davies ‘must start’, was on the bench last weekend

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Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has told Football.London that Ben Davies will start against Ludogorets.

Spurs beat Manchester City 2-0 on Saturday evening, but now turn their attention to Europa League action on Thursday night.

Last time out, Spurs beat Ludogorets 3-1 away from home, and now face the Bulgarian side back in North London tomorrow night.

Mourinho may be looking to rotate his side for Thursday’s game, especially with such a big game coming up against Chelsea on Sunday.

Speaking at a press conference earlier today, Mourinho admitted that changes are coming, and picked out Davies as a player who ‘has to start’.

Sergio Reguilon started against City and put in a great a display against Riyad Mahrez, but will now earn a rest ahead of the game against Chelsea.

Mourinho hailed Davies as a ‘good professional’, and believes it is ‘normal’ for the 27-year-old to be coming into the side in order to give him playing time having started just seven games in all competitions this season.

“I will not play the same team I played against Manchester City. Of course I’m not going to,” said Mourinho. “There are different reasons for that. Of course the accumulation of matches is a problem. The Toby injury has a relation with an accumulation of minutes. It’s also about players that work a lot. They’re not starting matches and they deserve to start.”

“Ben Davies has to start. He didn’t play Sunday, he plays tomorrow. Just as an example, good players, good professionals. Working very hard for the team. I consider them first options. So between Sergio and Ben, they are first options. So of course after Sergio played on Sunday it’s normal that Ben is going to play tomorrow,” he added.