Team news: Ndombele out for Tottenham v. Newcastle with “minor injury”

Team news is out for Sunday’s Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United. And while there’s good news — Son Heung-Min is back and available and Dele is back in training! — there’s also bad news: new midfield signing Tanguy Ndombele sustained a minor injury in training and will not be available this weekend.

Well.... crap. So what does this mean? It could mean that there’s now room for both Son Heung-Min and Lucas Moura in the starting 11, if Mauricio Pochettino opts to line up in a 4-2-3-1. If Spurs were to start with a midfield pivot of Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko with Christian Eriksen just ahead, Son and Lucas could serve as wide inside forwards just behind Harry Kane.

Another option, would be to stick with the midfield diamond, bringing in Giovani Lo Celso for his first Spurs start. That seems... unlikely, considering Lo Celso’s sole contribution since joining Spurs was the nine minute cameo against Manchester City, but he’s going to have to start at some point, so maybe now is the time if he’s getting the hang of things in training.

Dele’s back in full training too, and that’s a good thing for Spurs going forward. Without Ndombele, Tottenham are losing a press-resistant deep lying playmaker, but they should still have enough talent in the squad and on the bench to break down a Newcastle team that has yet to complete a pass inside their opponents’ box.