Tottenham Hotspur return to FA Cup action today, as they travel to Deepdale to face Preston North End.

The Lancashire outfit are enjoying a solid season thus far, and are just two wins away from potentially occupying the third spot in the Championship.

Meanwhile, Antonio Conte’s side have struggled to find their rhythm, and as such have fallen off the pace in their race for the top four.

With a desire to earn their place in the hat for the next round, but an awareness that another clash with Manchester City waits on the horizon, there are likely to be plenty of changes to the side that narrowly beat Fulham on Monday.

Bearing that in mind, this is their predicted XI for today’s cup clash…

Predicted Spurs XI (3-4-3): Fraser Forster (GK); Cristian Romero (CB), Eric Dier (CB), Clement Lenglet (CB); Matt Doherty (RWB), Oliver Skipp (CM), Yves Bissouma (CM), Ryan Sessegnon (LWB); Arnaut Danjuma (RW), Harry Kane (ST), Richarlison (LW).

Conte is expected to make a mammoth eight changes from their last match.

Having struggled for form of late, Hugo Lloris will benefit from a rest whilst Fraser Forster takes his place. Perhaps it will allow the Frenchman some time to recuperate after his back-to-back blunders against Arsenal and the Cityzens.

The back three that will sit in front of him will likely be well-changed too, but Cristian Romero is expected to remain at the heart of it.

His experience and quality will be needed to deal with the threat that their hosts could possess, and he will be joined by Eric Dier and Clement Lenglet.

Matt Doherty and Ryan Sessegnon will flank the three centre-backs.

That leaves a completely revamped midfield, as Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg drop out for Oliver Skipp and Yves Bissouma.

This marks a huge opportunity for the latter to stake his claim for a starting spot.

Despite rumours of Harry Kane suffering from illness, his desire to play will likely see him lead the line.

He is expected to be supplemented by Richarlison and the new man Arnaut Danjuma, who joined the north London outfit on Thursday after snubbing Everton at the eleventh hour.

Dubbed a “nightmare for defenders” by former Premier League marksman Kevin Phillips, he will hope to mark his full debut with an impressive display as he replaces the disappointing Heung-min Son.

With just four league goals to his name after 19 games, the wide man faces a similar struggle to Lloris in a desperate bid to regain form. Korean football journalist Jason Lee even admitted that the 30-year-old had been “underperforming” this season.

Perhaps this rest and the addition of a new face could now spur him into action for the second half of the campaign.