No Romero: Thomas Frank could name highly changed side for Tottenham’s second friendly vs Luton Town – Opinion

Originally posted on To The Lane And Back
By Jainil Shah | Last updated Jul 23, 2025 8:42 AM ET

Tottenham Hotspur are set to travel to Kenilworth Road this weekend, precisely on Saturday, which is 26 July, as Thomas Frank prepares to take charge of his second game on the sidelines for his new employers following a confident 2-0 win over Reading last weekend. And the former Brentford manager is expected to rotate his squad around a bit as he continues to assess the options at his disposal and experiment with tactics ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.

It is just the second game of the pre-season, so things should expectably be slow as the players work towards their full fitness, but we are also expecting a few players to get a run in as the Dane head coach starts understanding the quality of the players at Hotspur Way.

Richy to return upfront?

One of the players that didn’t feature against Reading was Richarlison, but the exit-linked Brazilian international is back to full training, and he is in line to start up top for the North Londoners, and with the former Watford striker leading the line, it will give Mohammed Kudus an opportunity to play in that second striker or attacking midfielder role which Frank used to great effect during his time at Gtech Community Stadium. The new signing at N17, Kudus, had an electric debut donning the Spurs badge in the first friendly, where he was a heavy contributor behind both the goals as he showed the first glimpses of the flexibility that he can provide and how he will be a key asset this season.

Following an extended offseason, the wide forward duo of Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert are also expected to make their first appearances of the 2025/26 pre-season this season, as they will take the roles on either flank, which should see them rotating with Richarlison to make it a more fluid front line.

Vuskovic to keep his place at the back?

In the middle of the park, the highly regarded duo of Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall are expected to take up the pivot roles as both of them look to impress the new head coach, where Gray will likely be taking up deeper duties, whilst this frees Bergvall to play in a more box-to-box role.

Going into the defensive side of things, Luka Vuskovic should keep his place at the heart of defence after he impressed with a goal and assist on his Spurs debut last weekend, and the Croat could partner with Micky van de Ven at the back. We can also see Destiny Udogie starting at left-back yet again, whilst Djed Spence, who complemented Kudus really well against Reading last weekend, may be preferred to play over Pedro Porro in the right-back role.

And lastly, coming to the man with gloves between the sticks, Antonin Kinsky will possibly get another opportunity to impress after his composed outing against Reading.