It was rather inconvenient to have Mauricio Pochettino’s press conference on Thursday afternoon for a Monday night game. It meant he wasn’t able to give us much information about team news for tonight at the time.
Still, that timetabling oddity has allowed us to get a nice surprise tonight – the return of Conor Gallagher to the team:
“Conor Gallagher, because we play on Monday, has arrived in a very [good] condition and he is able to play,” Pochettino explained.
Last we heard the midfielder was ill and had missed several days of training. But he’s in the team tonight, and Mauricio Pochettino has assured fans that the midfielder is ready to go. It’s not just a question of a lack of alternatives in the middle.
Let’s hope he’s up to it, it could be a long night for our midfield against a motivated Newcastle team who beat us comfortably at St James’ Park. We desperately need Gallagher to play well, and given how much his game relies on energy and fitness, even a minor lingering bit of illness could be bad news.