Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal will contest the first North London derby of the season on Sunday.
Paul Merson has claimed that Davinson Sanchez, and not Jan Vertonghen, has to start for Tottenham in their Premier League clash against Arsenal on Sunday because of Pierre Emerick Aubameyang’s pace.
Since the start of the season, Mauricio Pochettino has opted to pick Sanchez at the back instead of Vertonghen and it has resulted in the former producing a number of poor performances.
It could be argued that he was one of a number of players at fault for Aston Villa’s goal on the opening day of the season as Sanchez and Danny Rose were also questioned for the role they played in Joelinton scoring Newcastle’s winner last Sunday.
Speaking on The Debate on Sky Sports Premier League (26/08/2019 at 10:40 pm), Merson thinks despite Sanchez’s struggles, he has to start ahead of the more reliable and experienced Vertonghen.
“I’m not sure Vertonghen will play,” Merson told The Debate. “I think there’s more to it than meets the eye there. He’s played Sanchez every game. I don’t think he’s going to pick one player out and go ‘you’re the one getting left out’.
“I think he’ll play Sanchez because of his pace anyway. You have to against Aubameyang. I don’t think Vertonghen would be able to live with Aubameyang’s pace.”
Tottenham are yet to keep a clean sheet this season and with Arsenal’s pacy attacker awaiting them on Sunday, Pochettino might have to wait a little longer for his team to secure that first clean sheet.
Regardless of what has happened or not happened with Vertonghen, it is paramount that Spurs get him back onto the field because it would increase their chances of producing the goods.
But without him, and playmaker Christian Eriksen in the middle of the park then Tottenham’s indifferent start to the season will only continue.
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