Ben Davies, Jan Vertonghen and Japhet Tanganga may not sleep too easily on Saturday night ahead of Sunday’s visit of Wolves.
Adama Traore could be the toughest man to mark in the Premier League; a formidable combination of strength and extreme speed.
So who should get the nod to mark the lightning-quick winger?
Ben Davies
The Welshman has – somewhat surprisingly – started all three games at left-back since his return from a three-month layoff, which is a clear indication of just how highly Jose Mourinho values him as the inverted left-back.
Is now in possession of the shirt, but has struggled up against the league’s top speed merchants in the past, notable Leroy Sane and Sadio Mane.
Japhet Tanganga
The 20-year-old owes his first-team breakthrough to his pace, which is one of his top attributes and an essential one in trying to contain Traore.
Mourinho first used Tanganga on the left side in a bid to combat Ishmaila Sarr, not a dissimilar player to Traore, so might try that ploy again even though he didn’t have it all his own way against the Watford wide-man.
Jan Vertonghen
It was Vertonghen’s struggles against Traore at Molineux which provoked our hack-at-all-costs approach, although he did have the last laugh with his stoppage-time winner.
The Belgian has had a couple more torrid outings since then, but Mourinho may put his trust in experience. Oddly, the centre-back is the best equipped offensively to push Traore back if that is how Jose thinks to stop him.
Harry Hotspur verdict: Tanganga for me, Jeff.
I agree. Except to say that I’m not convinced we have anyone capable of keepingTraore from doing what he does. Double cover; someone to shepherd him, and someone to intercept as he passes the shepherd.
Tanganga is the only choice ,he has the pace ,keep him wide all the time and never try and out muscle the monster and he will do a lot better than Jan did last time.