Moura May Debut In North London Derby

Lucas Moura could  be making his first appearance with Tottenham Hotspur in Saturday’s Premier League clash with Arsenal but manager Mauricio Pochettino says he has serious decisions to make before selecting his team for the north London derby.

After sticking with the same starting line-up that defeated Manchester United and the drew at Liverpool, Pochettino made 10 changes as Tottenham cruised into the FA Cup fifth round beating fourth-tier Newport County 2-0.

The Argentine is likely to make some selection changes again for the visit of sixth-placed Arsenal, with Brazilian midfielder Moura to play his debut after arriving in the January transfer window from French side Paris St Germain.

“I think he will be ready, maybe to be in contention for Saturday,” Pochettino said. “He is doing well, training so hard and I think we need to assess him.

“After the last training session, I hope that he is still doing well and we can put him in contention.”

Toby Alderweireld is available after the Belgian defender returned to the team from a hamstring injury he picked up in November and played 90 minutes against Newport.

Defender Danny Rose and midfielder Harry Winks are also fit, boosting the manager’s options. “It’s positive but it’ll be tough because we can’t put out more than 11 and seven on the bench,” Pochettino added.

“I am sure that many players will not be happy that they will be out but that is football, they understand the rules and always we are going to take the best decision for the team.”

Tottenham are fifth in the table with 49 points. (Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)