A MK Dons XI will take on a Tottenham Hotspur XI this evening, in the Club’s final warm-up match ahead of the new Sky Bet League 1 season.
While Karl Robinson and his side will have one eye on this weekend’s trip to Shrewsbury Town, the Dons’ first League game of the season, they must first navigate their way past a Spurs XI which will include the likes of former Dons loanees Andros Townsend and Jake Livermore, among others.
Livermore and Townsend, both of whom have featured for Tottenham Hotspur’s first team since playing for the Dons, are part of a 16-man squad which will make the trip to stadiummk tonight. Also in the confirmed squad are Kenneth McEvoy, Iago Falque and striker Tom Carroll, who will be looking to impress Andre Villas-Boas ahead of the new season.
All three players featured in the last Tottenham Hotspur XI friendly, which took place earlier this month at Kingstonian FC. Spurs won the game 4-0, thanks to goals from McEvoy, Jordan Obika, Simon Dawkins and Cristian Cellabos.
Also looking to make an impact tonight will be Ian McLoughlin, Tom Flanagan and George Baldock, all of whom have had limited game time for the Dons in the past two weeks. First teamers Dele Alli, Brendan Galloway and Ben Reeves will also be involved, along with duo Patrick Bamford and Jon Otsemobor, who have suffered with injuries this pre-season.
Youth-team scholars Ben Grant and Will Summerfield have also been handed starts tonight by manager Robinson, who confirmed his team in an interview with MK Dons Player on Tuesday. He told us: “We’re going to be playing a lot of young kids and I think Jon Otsemobor will be the only player featuring over the age of 22.
“The average age of our bench is only 16 as well so it’s a very young team. I was thinking about not taking the game but I wanted it to be as real as possible for these young players. I’m looking forward to it and I’m really excited by the challenge because we talk about these youngsters a lot.
“I know, also, thatthere will be a fair crowd here for the young players to show their talents off too. The gulf between the two teams is obvious and we shouldn’t, by right, be on the same park as them but I believe the group we’ll put out will put a tremendous amount of effort in and be very competitive.”
MK Dons XI starting line-up to face Tottenham Hotspur XI: McLoughlin; Baldock, Otsemobor, Flanagan, Galloway; Alli, Reeves; Summerfield, Rasulo, Grant; Bamford.
Tottenham Hotspur XI starting line-up to face MK Dons XI from: Jordan Archer (GK), Jonathan Miles (GK); Ryan Fredericks, Jake Livermore, Kevin Stewart, Grant Ward, Nabil Bentaleb, Yago Falque, Tom Carroll, Andros Townsend, Shaquile Coulthirst, Cristian Ceballos, Cameron Lancaster, Ruben Lameiras, Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Kenneth McEvoy
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