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The new Tottenham interim head coach will face a north London derby on Sunday as his first introduction to life in the Premier League
It will not be a gentle introduction to Premier League life for Igor Tudor as he begins his Tottenham tenure with the visit of Arsenal on Sunday.
The second north London derby of the season arrives at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend and brings a new face in the home dugout in the 47-year-old Croatian. Tudor is looking to improve Spurs' fortunes and drag them up the table as he has done at clubs like Juventus, Lazio and Udinese in recent years.
Arsenal will make the short trip across the capital during a bit of a wobble in their Premier League title challenge, having won just three of their first eight matches in the competition in 2026 and giving up a 2-0 lead to draw at bottom side Wolves on Wednesday night.
So what formation will Tudor decide upon for his debut in Spurs dugout? Which of his available players will he select in the starting line-up? Will Pedro Porro and Richarlison both be back in contention as originally hoped?
Here are five different ways that Tudor might line-up his new Tottenham side against Mikel Arteta's side on Sunday afternoon.
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3-4-2-1
This has been Tudor's most used formation across his managerial career and the one that was starting to fit Spurs nicely a few weeks back before Thomas Frank seemed to get spooked when it didn't work as well in the first half of the home game against Manchester City.
Numbers are an issue for the new Tottenham boss right now and if he is to play with a back three then the Croatian will need to either use midfielder Joao Palhinha in defence or throw 17-year-old centre-back Jun'ai Byfield into a huge north London derby which would be a big ask.
Xavi Simons also revels in this formation as it keeps him more central rather than being kept out wide and therefore out of the action. The question lies in who plays on the right of the two number 10 spots with Wilson Odobert now out for much, if not all, of 2026 with his ACL injury.
Neither Mathys Tel nor Randal Kolo Muani are natural number 10s and it would be a new role really for either. The position probably suits Conor Gallagher better and he can fall back into a central three when required with Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr.
3-4-1-2
Another alternative is for Tudor to utilise a player he got plenty out of at Juventus in Kolo Muani. The Frenchman netted five times and provided one assist in 11 appearances under the new Spurs boss at the end of that season at Juventus as he and the Croatian helped push the Old Lady into the top four.
The formation would leave Xavi in the central 10 role and Gallagher would step back into the midfield duo behind the young Dutchman.
It would also provide two focal points for the wing-backs to aim crosses at in the box, which would be particularly helpful if Porro is in a position to come back in and get minutes.
3-4-3
A more attacking approach with the players involved would be for Tudor to play two high wingers either side of Dominic Solanke up front.
Again though that would be awkwardly pushing Xavi out into an advanced left wing role with either Tel or Kolo Muani on the other flank and that's not really Tudor's style as the width comes from the wing-backs with plenty of bodies in the centre of the pitch in his system.
4-4-2
Tudor spoke in his introductory club interview about adapting his system to the available personnel with so many players out of action currently.
That might mean him switching to a back four, which would favour Archie Gray at right-back more than making the 19-year-old play as a wing-back again.
He could go with an old school 4-4-2. It does leave bodies light in the midfield though and would create question marks over where Xavi would play exactly as it's not a system that particularly suits him unless he were to play off Solanke up top.
4-2-3-1
The solution to that Xavi issue is the 4-2-3-1 that Spurs were using in recent weeks anyway after Frank stepped away from the back three.
It would have either Gallagher or the Dutchman in the central number 10 role behind Solanke and leave more bodies in the midfield to battle with their Arsenal counterparts.
One fear though might be that it wasn't working in Frank's final weeks and it's therefore nothing new to get the players out of their current mindset.
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