Tottenham Team News: Injuries, suspensions and line-up vs Chelsea

Everything you need to know ahead of the potentially pivotal FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, with both sides bidding to win the domestic double

Tottenham could conceivably end the season as double winners.

Mauricio Pochettino's men sit second in the Premier League and are in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, with Chelsea standing in their way in both competitions.

The Blues hold a four-point lead over Spurs in the table and are their opponents at Wembley on Saturday evening in what could be a pivotal encounter ahead of an unpredictable title run-in.

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TOTTENHAM INJURIES

Mauricio Pochettino has the luxury of being able to choose the same side that decimated Bournemouth at White Hart Lane last week, with no new injury concerns cropping up.

Harry Kane was back amongst the goals in the 4-0 victory and is sure to start against Chelsea, having seemingly completely returned to full fitness following his ligament injury against Millwall in this competition.

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Michel Vorm is a doubt for the game with a knee injury, however, meaning that Pau Lopez may well take his place on the bench as back-up to Hugo Lloris.

Harry Winks, Danny Rose and Erik Lamela are all long-term injury absentees, though Rose may return for the north London derby against Arsenal at the end of April.

Premier League Team of the Week Harry Kane

TOTTENHAM SUSPENSIONS

Spurs have no players suspended for the encounter with Chelsea.

POTENTIAL TOTTENHAM LINE-UP

Spurs were brilliant against Bournemouth, running riot at White Hart Lane to crank up the heat on Chelsea in the Premier League title race.

This game, however, marks a quite different challenge. Eric Dier has routinely played in midfield recently, with Spurs defeating all-comers, but they have not faced a side capable of truly matching them up.

Thus Pochettino is likely to drop Dier back into defence, alongside Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, to make way for Victor Wanyama in midfield; one feels that the Kenyan's battle with N'Golo Kante in the middle of the Wembley pitch will decide the outcome of the game.

Heung-Min Son has been in fine form recently, scoring five goals in his last four games, but he could well be the sacrificial lamb in Pochettino's team, as Son dropping to the bench would push the precocious Dele Alli further forward, allow Spurs to retain the creative spark of Christian Eriksen from the left and also add muscle to the midfield in the form of a Mousa Dembele and Wanyama partnership.

Elsewhere, Kyle Walker will surely be tasked with stopping Eden Hazard, while Ben Davies will continue at left wing-back in the absence of Rose.

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CHELSEA TEAM NEWS

Thibaut Courtois is the biggest doubt to face Tottenham at the weekend after injuring his ankle during a commercial video shoot for the NBA. Asmir Begovic started against Manchester United following Courtois' injury and is likely to continue at Wembley.

Marcos Alonso pulled out of the match at Old Trafford in the warm up due to sickness, while some reports also suggested that the sickness bug extended to Victor Moses and Diego Costa, who both struggled in Manchester.

The left wing-back is expected to recover in time for the FA Cup tie but Chelsea are not expected to have any other injury concerns ahead of the match.

David Luiz requires ongoing treatment for a knee injury, while Cesar Azpilicueta has played on with a broken bone in his hand in recent weeks, but neither injury has caused the key defenders to miss any of their team's most important matches.

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BEST OPTA MATCH FACTS

Since beating Chelsea in the League Cup final in 2008, Tottenham have won just one of their eight games at Wembley (D2 L5), beating CSKA Moscow in a Champions League group stage game in December.
Chelsea lost their last match against Manchester United - they've not lost back-to-back games in all competitions since April 2016 (vs Swansea and Manchester City).
Tottenham, meanwhile, have won their last eight games in all competitions - they've only enjoyed a longer such run once in their history (13 games, April-October 1960)