It looks set to be a case of one in and one out for Ange Postecoglou with Tottenham as they host Fulham on Saturday evening. Spurs are aiming to leapfrog top four competitors Aston Villa - even if temporarily - and are in a strong position to do so.
Postecoglou will have almost a fully fit squad to work with in north London after six days off. Meanwhile, Marco Silva's Fulham are coming off the back of a disappointing defeat to Wolves last time out despite having the better of the chances.
Tottenham will start the day in fifth, two points behind Villa, but could end it with a small buffer ahead of Unai Emery's trip to West Ham on Sunday. They could also open up a sizeable nine-point gap to Manchester United in sixth, all but ending the chances of dropping out of the top five at this stage.
Whilst English clubs wait to find out if they will be granted an extra spot in the Champions League next year, Spurs are planning to do all they can to have things in their own hands regardless. With returning players from injury, it is coming together nicely at an ideal time.
Spurs did suffer the one blow at Villa Park last week but didn't let the sight of Micky van de Ven being helped off the field distract them. The 4-0 win in the Midlands swung the pendulum once more and Postecoglou is hopeful that his key centre-back will be fit for when the league resumes in two weeks time.
"Micky, nothing too significant," the head coach said on Friday. "He’ll miss tomorrow. But we’re quite confident if the recovery goes well with the international break, he shouldn’t miss too much more. I think he came off at the right time to be honest. So while he misses tomorrow, it’s still positive."
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This isn't the first time that Van de Ven will be ruled out via injury but the break will allow the damage from his absence to be limited. Meanwhile, there are hopes that Richarlison could make his return to the side.
"Richy, he trained today so we’ll just see how he pulls up," Postecoglou explained. "If he pulls up OK, he’ll probably be available." The Brazilian has missed two games so far with a knee injury but looks to be making good progress.
With an otherwise familiar set of attacking options, there are still plenty of choices left to cover for him. Manor Solomon remains out with a long-term issue and there are still no impending returns for Ryan Sessegnon or Fraser Forster.
In terms of what Tottenham look like on the day, it may well be just the two changes to the 20 players selected feature. Here, football.london predicts what will be on offer.
Goalkeepers: Guglielmo Vicario, Brandon Austin
Defenders: Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero, Radu Dragusin, Emerson Royal, Ben Davies
Midfielders: Pape Matar Sarr, James Maddison, Yves Bissouma, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Giovani Lo Celso, Rodrigo Bentancur
Attackers: Timo Werner, Brennan Johnson, Son Heung-Min, Dejan Kulusevski, Dane Scarlett, Richarlison
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