The FA Cup third round kicks off this month with Tottenham Hotspur hosting AFC Wimbledon.
Tottenham Hotspur will be hosting AFC Wimbledon at Wembley this Sunday in the third round of the FA Cup.
Realistically, it presents Spurs with their best opportunity of winning silverware this season so ian important game for Mauricio Pochettino’s team.
Given the hectic Christmas schedule, and Wimbledon’s lowly position in League One, Pochettino is likely to make changes and freshen up the team.
Here are three players who deserve an opportunity this weekend:
Fernando Llorente
Harry Kane has been grabbing all the headlines but his understudy Fernando Llorente, like all his predecessors, has struggled for goals in Kane’s shadow.
The Spaniard has netted just once in 19 appearances since joining from APOEL Nicosia. He has started just four matches (none in the Premier League) and has not really had a run of games.
Llorente scored 15 goals for Swansea City last season as their main striker so he has proved he is capable of performing in England. Spurs face two Premier League games before they meet Wimbledon so Kane will surely need a rest and the former Athletic Bilbao forward deserves the chance from the start where he can properly be judged.
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou has played just 22 times since arriving at Tottenham for £11million in August 2016. The Frenchman has had limited opportunities given the form of the likes of Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and co.
He has done very little wrong in a Spurs shirt. He scored his first goal for the club in the UEFA Champions League against APOEL Nicosia. He’s featured just five times this season and has never started a league game. He scored a performed well in his previous match which should surely merit another opportunity against the Dons.
Erik Lamela
Erik Lamela returned from a 13-month injury lay off at the end of November and has featured seven times since. Six of those appearances have been from the substitutes bench and you feel the Argentine needs to get 90 minutes under his belt to get back up to speed fitness wise after such a long time out.
The former Roma winger has shown glimpses of what Spurs have missed from him in his cameos, he does have an assist to his name this season and 11 of his 19 Tottenham goals have come outside of the Premier League so he has a fine record in cup competitions.
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