Antonio Conte will be making a huge mistake if he starts 26-year-old for Tottenham tonight - opinion

By Milo Clay

Antonio Conte will be making a huge mistake if he starts Davinson Sanchez for Tottenham Hotspur tonight. 

Spurs travel to France to face off against Marseille in a crucial Champions League group stage decider. 

Conte’s men need to pick up at least a draw to guarantee their place in the last-16. But Marseille will be up for the occasion as they have to win to qualify for the knockout stages. 

Tottenham will be without Cristian Romero tonight, with Cristian Stellini confirming that the Argentine has been ruled out for the game. 

Conte is also serving a one-match touchline ban due to his outburst after Harry Kane’s last-minute ‘winner’ was ruled out against Sporting last week. 

Despite the fact Conte will be absent from the dugout tonight, he will undoubtedly be selecting the starting line-up. And he needs to avoid replacing Romero with Sanchez in his starting line-up. 

Conte will be making huge mistake if Sanchez starts for Tottenham 

Sanchez has proven to be a decent back-up option for Spurs as he impressed towards the end of last season while Romero was sidelined. 

But the Colombian has looked shaky over the past few weeks and put in a poor display against Bournemouth on Saturday. 

The 26-year-old was hooked just before the hour mark as Conte brought on Eric Dier in his place. And Spurs looked much more solid at the back with Dier playing alongside Clement Lenglet and Ben Davies. 

Sanchez’s weaknesses on the ball are there for everyone to see and Conte’s men looked much more threatening down the right-hand side after Dier replaced him on the south coast. 

The back-three of Lenglet, Dier and Davies looked provided more balance to the side against the Cherries. Sanchez endured a tough afternoon before he was replaced and Spurs cannot afford any shaky defensive performances in France tonight. 

Romero missing out is a huge blow for Conte but he should give Dier a run on the right-hand side of the back-three in his absence.