Tottenham superstar: I think my presence is no longer needed am leaving

Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham team selection at Ipswich Town was always going to be interesting with a host of players recently returning to fitness. Seeing Guglielmo Vicario, James Maddison, Wilson Odobert and Brennan Johnson all make their comeback the previous week against Manchester United, Destiny Udogie was an unused substitute for the 1-0 victory in the capital.

Postecoglou went to Suffolk on Saturday having the option to rotate his team and give those who have just returned an increase in pitch time. For the second weekend in a row, Tottenham had the luxury of a full week to get ready for their match rather than having limited time with games tending to come every three or four days in 2024/25.

Even with a good amount of time to prepare for the trip to Portman Road, it was always going to be about manging minutes ahead of Wednesday’s game against Manchester City. That’s why players such as Archie Gray, Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr, Udogie and Johnson who did not start against Manchester United were always candidates to get the nod at Ipswich.

Gray, Udogie and Johnson did come into the team, with Bissouma and Sarr remaining on the substitutes’ bench. Despite Rodrigo Bentancur playing a lot of football of late, Postecoglou elected to start with the Uruguayan once again rather than give him a breather ahead of the Manchester City match.

Lucas Bergvall also kept his place in the team, a decision which was fully justified after an excellent showing against the Tractor Boys. Since seeing his minutes in the Premier League really increase from the middle of December onwards due to a lack of available players, Bergvall has demonstrated exactly why he was brought to Tottenham in the first place.

The Swede has started six of Tottenham’s last seven Premier League matches, with the only game he didn’t start coming in the 2-0 win at Brentford.