Here are Alasdair’s thoughts on that Spurs line-up
In essence it’s Conte’s two rotation changes he’s most comfortable with, Ben Davies and Clement Lenglet and Ivan Perisic and Ryan Sessegnon.
It’s elsewhere that the Spurs boss clearly isn’t quite as confident that the level of the team won’t drop if he makes a change. Matt Doherty has the opportunity to press his claims in that respect in Emerson Royal’s absence.
Across the pitch, players are turning out again less than 72 hours since their previous performance, Hojbjerg and Bentancur partnering up again in the centre of the pitch and the front three all involved together again.
Conte admitted to football.london on Friday that he can’t rotate Eric Dier because nobody in his squad can deliver the same specific role he does in the centre of that back three, which points to a new signing being needed there.
For Richarlison, he is yet to get off the mark for Spurs in the Premier League and he will be hoping that he can do so against his old side.
His partnership with Doherty could be key to the system working today. The duo haven’t had much competitive game time together but how they link up on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium pitch will go a long way to deciding the quality of Spurs’ attacks today.
Everton have tighted up in defence and with the 3-4-3 in action again, Spurs are going to have to use the extra numbers going forward to their advantage and hope they don’t lose control to the Toffees’ midfield trio.