Mauricio Pochettino has conceded that losing Moussa Sissoko is a blow for Tottenham, with the France midfielder facing a three-match ban after being charged by the English Football Association for elbowing Bournemouth's Republic of Ireland international Harry Arter.
The Spurs manager confirmed the club would not appeal against a violent conduct charge brought for the incident in Saturday's 0-0 draw, even though he does not believe Sissoko intended to elbow Arter. Sissoko is in line to miss tonight's tie with Liverpool and league matches against Leicester and Arsenal.
“After reviewing the video we have said that we accept the charge and now we move forward,” Pochettino said. “I have seen it on TV and I have to say it wasn’t intentional, but the elbow was in Arter’s face, so we accept the charge and move forward with three games suspension.
“It is true that it is a blow,” he went on. “We are in a period when we need all the squad fit to compete. We have four big matches ahead and it is difficult now because Moussa is a player who was in our plans to play to play tomorrow.”
The FA charge came after a panel of three former elite match officials reviewed footage independently and decided unanimously that it was a sending-off offence. It was referred to the panel after the referee, Craig Pawson, reported that he had not seen the incident at the time. Arter said he accepted Sissoko's insistence that the elbow had not been deliberate and that he hoped there would be no ban.
Pochettino is expected to field a youthful XI at Anfield in a fourth-round tie that resumes an intriguing series of contests with Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool side. Klopp’s debut in English football came at White Hart Lane last autumn and the clubs played out a fiercely contested 1-1 draw in the league at the start of this season.
“I think we are in different momentum from [the last match in] August,” Pochettino said. “Both teams have improved a lot and we are close in the table. They have momentum behnid them but they also have one of the best, if not the best squad in the league.
"When you are involved in many competitions like we are, you can see that I rotate the squad in different games. It's true that [the EFL Cup] is a different competition from the Premier League and that some time you need to rest a player who might have been playing a lot to avoid risk of injury. But we have a squad who deserve to play. They are working so hard to play. So it's about balance. But our idea will be the same regardless of the opposition. Our idea is win the game."
Pochettino confirmed that Michel Vorm would start in goal instead of Hugo Lloris and that Georges-Kévin N'Koudou, a summer signing from Marseille, would likely make his first start for the club. Other youngsters expected to feature for Spurs are the defender Cameron Carter-Vickers, midfielder Harry Winks and forward Josh Onomah. The 17-year-old Marcus Edwards, who provided a sparkling cameo against Gillingham in the last round, will not feature after sustaining an ankle injury.
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