Ange has a clearer view now Spurs are reinforced

IT IS nearly three months since Tottenham's disastrous defeat by Chelsea, which ended their record-breaking start to the season and plunged Ange Postecoglou into a selection crisis which is only now easing.

- Dan Kilpatrick

The Spurs head coach has had to contend with a succession of injuries, suspensions, illnesses and other absences, but tonight's FA Cup fourth-round tie against holders Manchester City feels like the start of a fresh chapter, with Postecoglou finally mulling over some positive selection headaches.

James Maddison hobbled off against Chelsea with ankle ligament damage but has trained all week and is "ready to start", according to Postecoglou; Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Rodrigo Bentancur are all fit; and January signings Timo Werner and Radu Dragusin are getting up to speed.

Postecoglou is now able to look back on the last few months with a degree of distance and believes it has been good for the development of his squad.

"The fact that we've gone through it, I think it's accelerated our growth," he said. "If we had everything run smoothly, you'd be worrying it would hit us at some stage and how are we going to react to it. We could have flown through this first half of the [season] and I'm sure all the questions to me would've been, 'What happens when there's a hiccup?'