Is Kyle Walker-Peters ready to start for Tottenham Hotspur away to Barcelona?
Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino might have something of a dilemma for Tuesday’s must-win Champions League clash away to Barcelona.
Serge Aurier picked up a knock in Tottenham’s win at Leicester City on Saturday and, with Kieran Trippier already out, there is a concern over who’ll play right-back at Camp Nou.
Pochettino told Football London afterwards that Aurier needs to be assessed, admitting that he didn’t know whether the former Paris Saint-Germain ace would be ready.
One man who is ready, according to the Spurs manager, is Kyle Walker-Peters, who replaced the Ivorian full-back at the King Power Stadium last night – but is Pochettino about to send the 21-year-old to the slaughter?
Last night was Walker-Peters’s first Premier League appearance of the season – and only his second in all competitions – but the Argentine boss insisted that the youngster was ‘ready’ to deputise away to Barcelona.
Let’s not forget that Pochettino took Walker-Peters off at half-time against Newport County in the FA Cup last season, admitting to Football London afterwards that it was not injury-related.
That doesn’t mean he’s a bad player by any stretch of the imagination, but it does make you wonder whether he’s really ready to mix it with Lionel Messi, Ousmane Dembele and Luis Suarez next week.
The Lilywhites’ bid to reach the knockout phase was labelled ‘mission impossible’ just a few short weeks ago. Two successive wins over PSV and Inter Milan have reignited a great deal of hope, to the point where Tottenham qualify if they better Inter’s result on Tuesday, but playing Walker-Peters might extinguish that hope again.
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