Published: 26 November, 2015
by DAN CARRIER

MAURICIO Pochettino faces a selection headache as his high-flying Spurs welcome champions Chelsea to White Hart Lane on Sunday. 

After a gruelling 5,000-mile round trip to face Qarabag in the Europa League on Thursday Pochettino is forced to change the side that beat West Ham 4-1 on Sunday because of the careless yellow card earned by midfielder Dele Alli. 

Winger Erik Lamela is likely to start if he can shake off a groin strain, having missed out on the victory over the Hammers owing to suspension. But Pochettino will not be able to welcome back Nabil Bentaleb, who has not appeared since September. The midfielder aggravated an ankle injury while playing for Algeria and will therefore sit out the derby. With games coming thick and fast, Pochettino left Lamela, Mousa Dembele, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose at home for the Europa League trip. 

The Spurs boss said he was relaxed about the side’s fixture pile-up. He said: “I laugh and I smile. It’s like the week we had three weeks ago when we played Monday night against Aston Villa, Thursday night against Anderlecht and Sunday at Arsenal. 

“Actually maybe it’s a little worse, because you need to fly nearly six hours and then there is the decision about whether to come straight back or stay overnight. It’s very difficult because both decisions are bad. But at this level it’s always the same problems.”