Are we on the road to greater things now?

Tottenham v Barnsley preview tomorrow Tuesday 19 September. Cup match (Carabao Cup).

Fernando Llorente, it is believed, is set to make his first start in the third round of the Carabao Cup.

Team news

Mauricio Pochettino will rest several key players for our game against Barnsley. Juan Foyth is likely to be handed his first start for the club while academy graduates such as Harry Winks, Tashan Oakley-Boothe and Kyle Walker-Peters could also be involved at Wembley.

Danny Rose and Victor Wanyama are still out and Erik Lamela is also unavailable as he recovers from a problem with his hips.

Barnsley will monitor Ryan Hedges. Hedges suffered a knock to his knee in Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa. There are no other fresh worries for boss Paul Heckingbottom, who is still without Lloyd Isgrove (foot) and Andy Yiadom. Heckingbottom has not decided on his starting XI yet.

This will be the second meeting between us in the League Cup - Tottenham won the last encounter, winning both legs en route to the semi-final in the second round in 1986-87 (3-2 away and 5-3 at home).
Barnsley have won only one of their 16 previous away games against Spurs in all competitions (D2 L13) - a 3-0 win in the Second Division campaign of 1947-48.
These sides last met in the 1998-99 FA Cup, with David Ginola's solo goal giving George Graham's Tottenham side the victory.
Tottenham have won 17 of their last 18 home League Cup games against sides from a lower division, losing only against Birmingham at this stage in 2000-01.
Meanwhile, Barnsley has lost 13 of their last 15 League Cup games against Premier League opponents, winning at Bradford in October 1999 and against Burnley in September 2009.

So we should see some changes. All the top teams use this competition to try out youngsters. We all want to win trophies, but this one is at the bottom of the list. Nevertheless, we will go for it. I am looking forward to an interesting night. A good Wembley win is needed.


Don Scully