You can find out if Fernando Llorente fires Tottenham to a Carabao Cup victory against West Ham on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports Football
Wednesday 25 October 2017 18:04, UK
Mauricio Pochettino believes Fernando Llorente is the "perfect fit" to compete with Harry Kane at Tottenham.
Spurs stepped out of their typical policy of signing young players to bring in the 32-year-old from Swansea in the summer, after Vincent Janssen had struggled to make an impact last season.
Llorente is set to start against West Ham in the Carabao Cup clash at Wembley, live on Sky Sports Football, with Kane among a string of key players to be rested despite his form, and Pochettino has challenged his fringe players to prove they can compete for a first-team place.
The Spurs boss said: "It is important to analyse; we have Harry Kane in the last few years, and it is not easy to find the profile that can compete with him.
"And it is not easy on the market to find a player that wants to come and compete with Harry. The world recognises him as one of the best strikers in the world. That is why Llorente is the perfect fit for us.
"For many players who have not had the opportunity so much to play in the Champions League or the Premier League, tomorrow (Wednesday) is a great opportunity for them to fight for a place in the starting eleven in different competitions.
"Juan Foyth maybe has the possibility to play too. He is young, but he needs to show why he is here because, in the future, maybe some players would be suspended or injured, and we need to play with him, and he needs to be decisive."
Pochettino also confirmed Michel Vorm will play in goal and he admits that he is finding it a "massive problem" to have to tell his number two goalkeeper he cannot play over Hugo Lloris when he "trains hard and shows great quality".
"Michel is the opposite [of a player who complains]," Pochettino said. "That is a massive problem for us, when the player does not complain, trains hard and shows great quality.
"It creates more of a problem for myself, than a player who is complaining and not doing his job. That is easy.
"Players like Michel, it is difficult to say 'I will not play you'. He complains with his performance in the training session. That is the way to complain against the manager. To show me that he deserves to play."
