New Spurs boss Tudor to play back three vs Arsenal? Plus your views!

Igor Tudor’s first afternoon in a Tottenham dugout could hardly be more incendiary: 4.30 p.m. on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, Arsenal arrive for a north-London derby and Spurs are bottom-heavy with a dozen unavailable footballers. Cristian Romero is suspended; eleven others are injured. The league table shows Tottenham 16th, five points above the drop, and winless in seven top-flight matches.

The Croatian, hired after Thomas Frank’s eight-game winless spiral, has never hidden his tactical DNA. Across spells at Hellas Verona, Lazio and Juventus he has leaned on a back three, usually within a 3-4-2-1 that sacrifices width for twin No.10s behind a lone striker. “I like to be positive. I like to play offensive football,” Tudor said on arrival, but conceded: “We need to first find the best system that suits the players that are available.”

Those numbers are stark. With Micky van de Ven and Radu Dragusin the only fit specialist centre-backs, Tudor must either abandon his favoured shape or field a makeshift defender. Joao Palhinha, used as an emergency centre-half under Frank, is the obvious candidate; 18-year-old Archie Gray has also deputised there. Full-back reinforcements are equally scarce—Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie are injured—so January signing Souza, briefly glimpsed at Old Trafford, is in contention for left wing-back, with Djed Spence the likely right-sided runner.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have lost only once in the Premier League since last season against a three-man defence, though they were held mid-week by bottom club Wolves operating 3-4-2-1. Spurs fans remember November’s 3-0 beating at the Emirates when Frank tried a back three; Tudor must decide whether past trauma or recent evidence carries more weight.

Further up the pitch the new head coach has greater latitude. Conor Gallagher, Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr, Palhinha and Gray all vie for midfield minutes. In attack, Xavi Simons and Dominic Solanke appear inked in, leaving Randal Kolo Muani—who scored six times in nine Tudor-led Juve fixtures last spring—duelling with Mathys Tel for the final advanced role.

Tudor has 12 league games to engineer an escape, a timeframe he bettered at both Lazio (qualifying for Europe in nine matches) and Juventus. “Style is more important than the system,” he insists, yet the immediate priority is clear: halt a seven-match clean-sheet drought while restoring attacking clarity that evaporated during Frank’s pragmatist turn.

Supporters, submitting their own XIs, overwhelmingly back a back-three variant, whether 3-5-2, 3-4-1-2 or 3-4-3, almost all featuring Kolo Muani and an attacking mandate. One post read: “I absolutely loved Tudor’s first interview… he demands no excuses and expects his team to go all in for a win.”

Sunday’s result will not decide survival, but it will frame the narrative: can a coach famed for defensive trios conjure organisation from chaos, or will Arsenal expose another Spurs experiment gone awry? The white half of north London waits, hopeful that formation, fight and a sprinkling of attacking verve can combine to ignite a season still flickering on the launchpad.

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