Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed he will rotate his Tottenham Hotspur side for tonight’s trip to face Arsenal in the quarter finals of the EFL Cup.
Stand-in goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga will start, and Pochettino’s plans open the door for Juan Foyth to get more first team minutes – provided he can shake off a thigh injury, as expected.
Pochettino underlined the scale of the faith he had in his countryman by playing him over Toby Alderweireld in the 4-2 defeat suffered against the Gunners earlier this month, but that did not quite go to plan.
Jan Vertonghen put in a disappointing display as the senior centre back and that rubbed off on Foyth, who was nervous throughout and flunked his first major test in a Spurs shirt.
But if Pochettino throws Foyth back into contention in the same arena, with a place in a major domestic semi-final at stake, it would hand the young defender the opportunity to make amends and show he learned lessons from that humbling afternoon.
Pochettino’s faith in young players is unwavering and he clearly believes in Foyth; if the defender is handed a second chance at the Emirates tonight, he must repay his manager’s faith.