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Tottenham face yet another defensive reshuffle at Hull on Sunday as Mauricio Pochettino will be without his three best full-backs.
Pochettino has yet to settle on a regular back line this season and he will be forced into changes again at the KC Stadium. It is thought Danny Rose, who sustained a rib injury in the home defeat by Stoke before the international break. The damage saw Rose taken to hospital and he will struggle to make the trip north.
Spurs had also hoped Kyle Walker might be able to travel. Walker resumed training last week after an eight-month absence from competitive football with an abdominal injury and is closing in on a return, but Pochettino wants the England international to take his time and will not risk pressing him into action ahead of schedule.
Walker’s fellow right-back Kyle Naughton is also suspended after he was sent off in that 2-1 loss by Stoke. He begins a two-match ban, meaning Pochettino has little choice but to play Eric Dier at right-back and hand a first Premier League start for Tottenham to Ben Davies.
It is hardly ideal. Dier has played most of his games for Spurs at full-back but sees his future in the centre, and even asked not to be selected for the England Under-21s so he could stay at Spurs and develop as a centre-back.
After his transfer from Swansea in the summer, which saw midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson move in the opposite direction, Davies has struggled to make an impact. He has been used in Europa League and Capital One Cup fixtures by Pochettino and has played only 18 minutes in the league, as a substitute for Rose in the 3-0 home defeat by Liverpool in August.
Davies, 21, has not always managed to force his way into the matchday squad but on Sunday, there is every chance he will be included in the starting XI unless Rose makes a surprise recovery.
Team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor was due to return from international duty with Togo only this morning and his condition will be assessed.
