Kazaiah's Profile Sterling: Who is the young Tottenham striker?

Star players Harry Kane and Dele Alli being injured and Son Heung-min at the Asian Cup with South Korea, this is not the perfect time for Tottenham to face his great rival Chelsea .

Worse still, this is the semifinal of the Carabao Cup, with Wembley at hand and a goal to defend since the first match.

It will be a real test of the courage of Mauricio Pochettino's team at Stamford Bridge. Manchester City should wait in the final if they pbad it.

The rising star Kazaiah Sterling, 20, should still be on the bench of the Spurs, the young striker hoping to have a huge impact in sending his team to the final.

Sportsmail tells you everything you need to know about Sterling before the decisive game in West London.

What is the probability that Sterling is involved?

It was a telling sign that Sterling was not involved in the Spurs Premier League international match against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday night.

Although another striker, Vincent Janssen, started and scored in an extraordinary 5-4 Spurs victory while he continues his injury return, Sterling was not in the team .

A similar thing happened on Friday during the Spurs International Cup match against Norwich City before Sterling was named to the bench for the Fulham Premier League win on Sunday afternoon.

It seems likely that Pochettino will again have Sterling on the Stamford Bridge, probably alongside Fernando Llorente and Lucas Moura.

If Tottenham needs a goal on the final day of Thursday night's game, Pochettino may give Sterling the opportunity to shine.

Sterling 's is also training with the first team at their Enfield base on Wednesday, although he' s been involved with Pochettino 's senior team for quite some time.

Does he already have first team experience?

He does. Six minutes to be precise.

Sterling replaced Dele Alli for his first-team debut in the 3-0 win of the Champions League group stage against Cypriot APOEL Nicosia last season.

Continuing to run at Wembley Stadium, even in a desperate situation after first place Spurs in their group, had to be an exciting experience.

Indeed, Sterling tweeted after: "The dream comes true by making my debut at the @ChampionsLeague tonight and winning."

Curiously, Sterling waited about eight minutes on the sideline for the ball out of the game before playing, which could not have helped the nerves.

He was also an unused substitute at the Premier League match in Manchester City last April, but this has been the case in terms of competitive playing time for seniors.

Sterling also drew attention by scoring in a friendly post – season victory over Kitchee in Hong Kong in May 2017.

But Pochettino holds him in high esteem?

Yes, Pochettino checked Sterling's name when he discussed potential attack options in the middle of his injury crisis in the Fulham match.

Argentina argued that a fake nine could be deployed on the spearhead of the attack rather than a conventional center-forward.

"I was watching Barcelona and the striker was Leo Messi," Pochettino said. & # 39; You can play Llorente, Dele Alli, [Erik] Lamela; you can play Kazaiah Sterling, Troy Parrott, I do not know.

"It's not that you have to play with a specific attacker. We are so crazy, managers, that sometimes we decide to do something different.

But is Sterling really an attacker?

Yes, he is most definitely a center forward and, although he is wearing jersey No. 54 in the extended team of the first Spurs team, nothing is wrong about this & # 39; 39; & # 39 ;. nine

Sterling has a good touch, a good technique, a physical strength – he is 5 feet 9 inches but muscular – and has the sense of purpose, as evidenced by the four goals scored in his last four outings in Premier League 2 less 23 years old.

In an interview with football.london in 2017, Sterling said, "My strengths are falling behind, aggressive and competitive.

"My weakness is probably my game in tight spaces, which I can really improve."

Is there anyone on whom he plays his game?

In that same interview, Sterling revealed that he admired the Manchester City striker, Sergio Aguero, a good example of "little player who still played a lot on the pitch".

But Pochettino has deliberately refused to borrow Sterling in recent years so that he can play alongside a certain Harry Kane on the training ground and learn the tricks of the craft.

In March 2017, the manager was questioned about his reluctance to lend young players – as it could happen in Chelsea or Manchester City.

He said, "An example is Kazaiah Sterling. Next season he will be here and that means every day an under 18 striker is training with Harry Kane. There is no better teacher to learn.

"Where could we send it? It would be a completely different philosophy. But if you do not have the opportunity to train yourself every day with the first team, it's true that it's good to grow up somewhere else and come back.

"But here we are trying to provide players who are able to cope with the pressure the opportunity to train with the first team."

This gave an interesting insight into Pochettino's philosophy regarding the recruitment of young players. As Kane, Harry Winks and others say, Spurs is one of the academy's best progression clubs.

As Sterling himself said, "Harry Kane is the perfect inspiration. He also went through the academy. This is the standard that I try to reach.

So, if Sterling has not been loaned, what experience does he have?

Some schools of thought would argue that a 20-year-old would probably have 20 to 30 football matches to his credit, after being loaned somewhere.

Tottenham's policy means that Sterling's career has been exclusively devoted to the Premier League U-23 championships and, before that, to the FA Youth Cup and the UEFA Youth League.

In the academic games in which he played, Sterling performed well. He was the club's top scorer in Premier League 2 in 2017-18, with eight goals in 20 stakes.

Moreover, last season, while he was still eligible for the under-19 Youth League, he found the net against Real Madrid and twice against Borussia Dortmund in the continental tournament.

In a jarring match against Real, which took place on the Tottenham training ground, they found themselves under serious pressure in the second half, but the clinical result of Sterling after a Marcus Edwards pbad was imposed 3-2.

Sterling, who attended the Winchmore School in North London and joins the Leyton Orient Spurs, has been progressively climbing the ladder.

He also displayed a lot of mental strength to recover from injuries that could have slowed his development.

In youth, he was involved in the race to the Tottenham semifinal in 2014-15, scoring in a 2-0 win over Chelsea in the first leg of the semi-final. But Chelsea fought back to win the 5-2 return match.

The two London rivals found themselves at this point in 2017 and Sterling scored his fourth goal of the Youth Cup in the first leg. Chelsea, however, beat the Spurs 7 to 1 in the return match to reach another final.

Two years later, this brilliant talent could well face Chelsea again, but under very different circumstances.