Mousa Dembele
Dembele in training ahead of the visit of Monaco Getty

KEY POINTS

  • Belgium international has been serving a six-match suspension picked up last season.
  • Rose picked up a hamstring injury while on international duty with England.

Danny Rose will be unavailable for Tottenham Hotspur's Champions League opener against Monaco but Mauricio Pochettino could hand Mousa Dembele his first start of the season.

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Dembele, 29, was hit with a six-match ban at the end of the 2015-16 season after clashing with Diego Costa in a fiery encounter with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in May. The Belgium international missed the final two games of that campaign – games Tottenham lost to Southampton and Newcastle United – and the first four of the new season as he completed his domestic suspension, but is available for Wednesday's clash at Wembley.

Dembele has been limited to just 45 minutes of first-team action this season, coming in a 2-0 defeat for Belgium against Spain, but the former Fulham midfielder could feature against the Ligue 1 side.

Rose however has failed to recover from a hamstring injury in time. The left-back suffered the knock while on international duty with England in a World Cup qualifier against Slovakia, missing Saturday's 4-0 thrashing of Stoke City. Ben Davies is expected to step in and replace him again.

Deadline day signing Moussa Sissoko is also in line to make his debut for the club against Monaco, having also been left on the bench at Stoke but the France international has admitted he still doesn't feel 100% fit.

The 27-year-old had a lengthy Euro 2016 campaign with France and did not play any football with Newcastle United in their Championship campaign prior to making his move to White Hart Lane.

"I can't tell you a date when I will be at my peak level, but my fitness is becoming better with every game, and I will work at the training ground to be 100% as soon as possible," Sissoko told the Evening Standard.

Erik Lamela came on as a substitute in that victory at the Britannia Stadium. The former Roma forward had played every minute of Tottenham's opening three games of the season but after a trip to Venezuela for Argentina's World Cup 2018 qualifier during the international break, he was given a rest with Son Heung-min proving to be a more than able deputy, scoring twice.

Meanwhile, Monaco trio Danijel Subasic, Thomas Lemar and Guido Carrillo have all been passed as fit for Wednesday's clash, with former Manchester United and Chelsea loanee Radamel Falcao also among the 21-man squad travelling to London.