Tottenham v Marseille predicted XIs: Team news as Conte bemoans busy schedule

Tottenham Hotspur get their Champions League campaign underway when they host Marseille on Wednesday at 8pm (UK time).

Antonio Conte’s men are back at Europe’s top table after two years out, contesting the Europa Conference League last season and the Europa League the year before. Marseille, meanwhile, had a year absence from the Champions League and reached the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League last season having dropped down from the Europa League.

Tottenham v Marseille betting tips from Squawka Bet

• Heung-min Son with 3+ shots on target @ 11/2 with Sky Bet
• 2+ shots on target each team in each half @ 8/1 with Sky Bet

18+ only. Please gamble responsibly. For more information, visit gambleaware.org. All odds and offers in this article are valid at time of publication.

Tottenham team news vs Marseille: Make this bit bespoke to an angle or leave blank

• Outs: Lucas Moura
• Doubts: Bryan Gil

Conte has confirmed that Lucas Moura is not available having suffered an inflammation in his tendon, but is hopeful the Brazilian won’t be out for too long, planning a return to training on Wednesday. Bryan Gil could return from injury, but isn’t likely to be in the starting XI considerations, rather adding depth to the bench if fit.

At the weekend, Conte frustrated a number of Fantasy Premier League managers in resting Ivan Perisic and Dejan Kulusevski with Wednesday’s game in mind, bringing them on for brief cameos that also ruled out the chance of a sub coming in. But Conte doesn’t care about fantasy football, obviously, and Perisic and Kulusevski are key parts of the Italian’s side who should start on Wednesday.

And fans can expect more rotation from Conte in the weeks to come as the fixtures start to pile up, with the schedule condensed ahead of the winter World Cup. But Conte believes his side have perhaps been a bit unluckier with their schedule than their rivals.

“Honestly to see this schedule about Tottenham is incredible, it’s crazy,” he told reporters.

“We played three games in six days against Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Fulham, now we are playing after four days but we are starting to then play three important games against Marseille Champions League, City away, Sporting Lisbon away in six days. I think maybe first time in my career to see a schedule like this.

“Honestly I try to check the schedule of other teams and I have seen that in this situation Tottenham analysed a lot, our club our team. I think in the future in this situation we were unlucky. I think in the future also I speak with club that we have to pay great attention to speak also with Premier League because we have to pay attention when there are this type of schedule.

“One day more, one day less can change totally your life as you can drop points and I think this is not good for team like Tottenham. When you want to start to think as a winner you have to take care of the details. The schedule details is very important for every club, especially for club who want to fight for something important. I think we can do much better for the future.”

Predicted Tottenham XI vs Marseille:

• Lloris; Davies, Dier, Sanchez; Emerson, Bissouma, Hojbjerg, Perisic; Kulusevski, Kane, Son. (3-4-3)

Marseille team news vs Tottenham: Make this bit bespoke to an angle or leave blank

• Outs: Alexis Sanchez, Cedric Bakambu, Bamba Dieng
• Doubts: Dimitri Payet

There will be no reunion between former Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez and Tottenham this week with the Chilean serving a suspension as a result of his red card against Liverpool in last season’s round-of-16 while representing Inter Milan.

Also unavailable are Cedric Bakambu and Bamba Dieng, both of whom were not registered in Marseille’s Champions League squad having failed to seal moves away in the summer transfer window. Marseille will be hoping Dimitri Payet is fit after missing the 2-0 win over Auxerre with a calf injury, and the Frenchman has travelled to London.

Predicted Marseille XI vs Tottenham:

• Lopez; Mbemba, Bailly, Kolasinac; Clauss, Veretout, Rongier, Tavares; Guendouzi, Gerson; Suarez. (3-4-2-1)