Squad for tomorrow (including likely starting eleven)

Partly through our own loan policy and partly through injury, we are very short of players for tomorrow’s huge game. Using the Champions League squad list, I have highlighted the players that are available, the players that are on loan, and the players that are injured. Assuming that both Bale and Gallas are fit for selection, we have twenty players available, including three goalkeepers and Danny Rose, who is likely to be the “odd one out” (unless Kranjcar is ruled out by his foot injury).

Goalkeepers

1 Heurelho Gomes Available
23 Carlo Cudicini Available

37 Stipe Pletikosa Available

Defenders

3 Gareth Bale Available

13 William Gallas Available

19 Sébastien Bassong Available
20 Michael Dawson Available
22 Vedran Ćorluka Available

32 Benoît Assou-Ekotto Available

Midfielders

6 Tom Huddlestone Available
7 Aaron Lennon Available
8 Jermaine Jenas Available

14 Luka Modrić Available

21 Niko Kranjčar Available

25 Danny Rose Available
30 Sandro Available

Forwards

9 Roman Pavlyuchenko Available

11 Rafael van der Vaart Available
15 Peter Crouch Available
18 Jermain Defoe Available

I would expect the team to be:

Cudicini
Bassong
Huddlestone
Jenas
Pavlyuchenko
Defoe
Kranjcar

As a slight aside, something worth noting:

“Ronaldo, Ramos, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Ángel Di María and Raúl Albiol are within a booking of a ban.
That’s three of the back four that’ll start tomorrow.”
– Taken from the UEFA Champions League website.

It is therefore vital that our wingers are brave, and try to run at and get in behind the back four as much as possible. Bale and Lennon running beyond Carvalho will probably be our best route to a goal, and so it’s vital that they take turns in getting close to Crouch and playing off him.

Come on you Spurs!