How Tottenham Hotspur could line up against Aston Villa

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has lost midfielder Yves Bissouma to yet another suspension ahead of Sunday's Premier League clash with Aston Villa in North London.

The Mali international was booked for the fifth time this season in their 2-1 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers before the international break and is joined on the naughty step by Cristian Romero, who is serving the second of a three-game ban.

Alongside the suspended couple, James Maddison (ankle) and Micky van de Ven (hamstring) are out until the New Year with the issues they picked up against Chelsea, while Richarlison (pelvic), Ryan Sessegnon (thigh), Alfie Whiteman (ankle), Ivan Perisic (knee) and Manor Solomon (knee) are all recovering from operations.

In addition, 18-year-old Ashley Phillips will be missing for a month with an ankle problem, while Pape Sarr returned from Senegal duty with an unexplained injury and is a major doubt too.

However, Destiny Udogie has now served a ban of his own and is also expected to recover from a muscular issue in time to face the Lions, so Emerson Royal's time at left-back may be up, as Pedro Porro is a mainstay on the right.

Eric Dier and Ben Davies justified their selections as emergency centre-backs against Wolves before Spurs' injury-time capitulation, and the duo should again be called upon to protect Guglielmo Vicario.

With Bissouma helplessly watching on, the door is open for Rodrigo Bentancur to make his first Premier League start since suffering his devastating ACL injury in February, most likely alongside another returnee in Oliver Skipp and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the engine room trident.

After opening the scoring just three minutes into his side's Molineux encounter, Brennan Johnson should keep Bryan Gil and Alejo Veliz at bay for another starting role in tandem with Dejan Kulusevski and captain Son Heung-min, who played down an injury scare while representing South Korea this month.

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup: Vicario; Porro, Dier, Davies, Udogie; Hojbjerg, Skipp, Bentancur; Kulusevski, Son, Johnson