Team News: Dele questionable, Ben Davies back in training ahead of FA Cup replay

Tottenham Hotspur’s important week continues tomorrow as they are set to host Southampton in an FA Cup replay for the right to play Norwich in the next round. Spurs released their team and injury news ahead of the match, and there’s a bit of good and bad news mixed in.

First the bad news: attacking midfielder Dele is “undergoing assessment” after taking a hard knock to the ankle by Raheem Sterling in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Manchester City. That’s not confirmation that he will be sidelined, but with so many important matches upcoming I would assume that he’ll be rested or at least placed on the bench tomorrow.

The good news is that Ben Davies has returned to full training with the squad after overcoming a long term injury that has kept him out of the side for months. It seems unlikely that he’d be ready to start tomorrow against Southampton, but Spurs fans could look forward to seeing him later on, possibly against Villa next weekend or in the following week’s Champions League match against Leipzig.

Big Steve Berwijn’s omission isn’t injury related — it’s just that he was signed and registered after the initial draw against Southampton so he isn’t eligible to play in the replay. He will be fine for the league match at Villa and for all future FA Cup matches going forward.

What does this mean for the lineup tomorrow? A couple of possibilities exist. We could see Tanganga retain his position at left back, and Tanguy Ndombele slotting into the midfield either as the #10 or in central midfield. Alternately, we could see Ryan Sessegnon involved in some way on the left side, either forward or behind.

One thing’s for sure — this is probably the last competition that Spurs have a reasonable shot of winning, so we can expect Mourinho to put out a strong side against Saints tomorrow.