Colchester vs. Tottenham Hotspur: League Cup preview, predicted lineup, and how to watch

My job is to write about Tottenham Hotspur football, including their opponents. So you’d think I’d have some kind of informed take about Colchester United, Spurs’ opponent in their Carabao Cup match tomorrow.

I don’t.

Predicted Lineup

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Wolverhampton
Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, UK
Date: Sunday, March 1, 2020
Time: 9 am ET, 2 pm UK
TV: not televised (USA/UK)
Stream: NBC Sports Gold ($)

Here’s what I do know about Colchester: they’re solidly mid-table in League Two, currently sitting in tenth place after ten matches. I know they made it this far in the League Cup by defeating Premier League side Crystal Palace at home, via penalty kicks. I know they play football in the 10k seat JobServe Community Stadium (lol) in Essex. I know they lost their leading scorer, Sammie Szmodics, to Bristol City this summer. I know they are captained by Luke Prosser, who came up through Tottenham’s academy.

And I know that even a heavily rotated Tottenham starting XI should be able to beat this Colchester side like a drum, even away.

So let’s move on to why you’re really here.

How will Tottenham Hotspur line up against Colchester?

I don’t know about you, but I’m actually looking forward to watching tomorrow’s match. I love it when Spurs go away to small clubs and stadia in the domestic cups because it gives us a glimpse at life in the lower divisions of English football, a new opponent to play against that we don’t usually get to watch, and a bunch of fringe and academy dudes in the starting lineup.

That makes the starting XI extremely difficult to predict, obviously. But I think we can infer a few things from reading the tea leaves and past comments from Mauricio Pochettino. First, I expect the fullbacks to rotate, and based on what the club hasn’t said, I suspect Kyle Walker-Peters gets the start at right back. Davinson Sanchez should also slot back into his natural position, while Paulo Gazzaniga will start again in goal.

I also predict starts for Dele Alli, who hopefully will knock off a fair amount of rust, and Lucas Moura, who honestly deserves more minutes than he’s getting.

And, yes, I expect we’ll see the debut of Irish striker prodigy and technicolor bird emoji Troy “Party” Parrott. Tottenham released the starting lineup for the U23s match against Blackburn and there were two names conspicuously missing: Parrott, and central defender Japhet Tanganga. Hmmmmmm.

I don’t know if this means Parrott will start the match tomorrow or if he’ll come on as a substitute, but I’m choosing to believe he’ll start because it’s a lot more fun to think that way.

Of course, there’s a lot of variance in this lineup. One of Lamela or Lucas could sit for Christian Eriksen. The central midfield could have ANYBODY, really. This is likely not going to be correct. But wouldn’t it be fun if it were?

This is my predicted lineup for Tottenham Hotspur at Colchester United in the League Cup. What’s yours?