Tottenham Hotspur released team news ahead of Monday's FA Cup third round match against Burnley at Turf Moor, and the missing players are more or less as expected: Tottenham will be without the services of Erik Lamela, Ryan Mason, and Nabil Bentaleb.
TEAM NEWS: We'll be without @nabilbentaleb42 for our trip to Burnley, while @Coco_Lamela & @Ryan_Mason13 are doubts - http://t.co/77VPQSBX1W
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 4, 2015
Nothing too surprising here: Ryan Mason is still recovering from the knock he picked up in the match against Manchester United, and Lamela apparently injured himself in training ahead of the Chelsea game. The club hasn't indicated the severity of either injury, nor how long either player is expected to be out. It may not matter: it is quite possible that Mauricio Pochettino will field a rotated side against Burnley in this match, as it's coming a mere three days after a physically and emotionally draining win over league leaders Chelsea. We could see a fair bit of rotation at Turf Moor, and even if Mason and Lamela aren't seriously injured there's no real reason to rush them back in a Cup match.
As for Bentaleb, he has joined his Algerian teammates in Equatorial Guinea for the 2015 African Cup of Nations and will not feature again for Spurs for some time. While Algeria are considered one of the favorites to win ACON, they were drawn in a horribly difficult group that includes Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa. Slip up in this Group of Death and Nabil could be heading back to London before the end of the month.
The FA Cup third round match against Burnley will kick off at 7:45 p.m. in the UK (2:45 EST). It is not televised.