Pochettino “forced” to play Tottenham star ahead of clash with Southampton

Mauricio Pochettino feels “forced” to play Tanguy Ndombele due to the crisis at Tottenham, says former Spurs striker Darren Bent. The Lilywhites signed Ndombele for £62.8million this summer but the Frenchman has been sidelined through injury. The 22-year-old midfield scored in the win over Aston Villa when he made his debut and started in the 2-2 draw with Manchester City. Bent also stated that Ndombele may not be fully recovered from his hamstring strain: “I’m not sure if he’s fit,” said Bent. “They spent a lot of money on him and we saw signs against Villa that he is going to be a key player. He’s been hit by injury and the Premier League is tough, it takes a little bit of time. He doesn’t look fit. With the performances that are going on, it feels kind of forced, that he’d rather just get him out there to see what he can do, give him 70 minutes. At the minute, it just doesn’t look like they know what their best team is.” Spurs’ next fixture will be against Southampton on Saturday and they will have another opportunity to get over their bad start.

Pochettino hits back at criticism about Tottenham ahead of Southampton clash