Tottenham vs Portsmouth injury update as visitors suffer triple blow and Antonio turns to youngsters

Portsmouth will travel to north London for the much-anticipated FA Cup third-round game against Spurs missing key players - but caretaker boss Simon Bassey is optimistic about causing an upset. 

Tottenham Hotspur come into the game off the back of an impressive 4-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace in the Premier League. But Lillywhites manager Antonio Conte pulled out of a press conference following the passing of his former teammate Gianluca Vialli. 

Lucas Moura, Richarlison, Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski are all still out injured and their absence will mean another opportunity for Pape Matar Sarr. 

Oliver Skipp, who put in a brilliant performance at Selhurst, is also likely to keep his spot and Bryan Gil might have earned a place in Conte’s plans. 

Portsmouth will be without Tom Lowery, Clark Robertson and Marlon Pack, as well as on-loan Spurs man Dane Scarlett, who cannot play against his parent club. 

Pompey manager Simon Bassey will, however, be able to call on Louis Thompson, who is now ready after he was stretched off against Bristol Rovers in August.

Another player who could benefit from the FA Cup game is goalkeeper Fraser Forster- who was in post against Brentford in the league, but the return of Hugo Lloris means he’ll struggle for minutes unless it’s a cup game or a sudden injury.

Tottenham fans are desperate for some silva ware after being taunted for their lack of success recently- so good run in the FA would be great to a fans base who have always stood by their team through the good and not so good times.