Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League title challenge suffered a significant blow as Wolverhampton Wanderers came from 1-0 down to beat them 3-1 at Wembley on Saturday, and England duo Kieran Trippier and Harry Winks were particularly disappointing on the day.

On the chalkboard

With plenty of injury issues all over the pitch for Mauricio Pochettino right now – and especially in midfield – Winks was once again handed a starting berth alongside Moussa Sissoko in the middle of the park against Wolves at the weekend, with Trippier returning at right-back having been rested against Bournemouth just a few days earlier.

Given his deputy Kyle Walker-Peters produced three assists in the 5-0 win against the Cherries the Three Lions star perhaps would have considered himself lucky to make his way back into the side, but he failed to back up his manager’s decision with a lacklustre performance on and off the ball against Nuno Santo’s men.

Winks wasn’t much better in the centre as the Wolves midfield largely overran him and dominated that particular area, and Pochettino has been left with some decisions to make ahead of the trip to Cardiff on Tuesday.

Bring academy duo in

While it is understandable that Trippier and Winks – especially the former given his World Cup exploits – might well be suffering from tiredness given the backlog of fixtures and previous injury issues, their respective performances against Wolves were nowhere near what they should have been.

Pochettino needs to freshen things up for the trip to south Wales and that means starting Walker-Peters – who took his rare opportunity against Bournemouth – at right-back and Oliver Skipp in midfield ahead of Winks, in what will be another tough afternoon at the Cardiff City Stadium with Neil Warnock’s side doing well – aside from the 5-1 reverse against Manchester United – on their own patch in recent times.

They will provide some much-needed energy and enthusiasm, which should boost Tottenham in their search for a win that could put them back in the title race given Liverpool and Manchester City face off at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday night.

CheekySport’s Joel claims Spurs badly need to invest in January after not having “the balls” to beat Arsenal. Check out his uncensored opinion in the video below…