Tottenham Hotspur have suffered another defensive injury in the build-up to their match against Arsenal, though they’re hoping to welcome a number of players back before then.
Tottenham Hotspur have been going through a bit of a defensive injury crisis lately, and things only got worse on Sunday as Destiny Udogie was forced off with a hamstring problem.
It’s unclear at this stage how serious the setback is, but Ange Postecoglou didn’t seem too optimistic after the game.
“Yeah, I think it was a hamstring,” Postecoglou admitted. “Again like I said, we’ve been relying on a core group of players because we just haven’t had the ability to rotate so at some point it was going to catch up with us. Unfortunately it caught up with Destiny.”
Physio Scout reports that the injury looked more like a hamstring strain than tightness, particularly with the way the player hobbled off. That would mean two-to-four weeks out, which would make an appearance against Arsenal on January 15th very unlikely.
Spurs also have goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario out, and he’s not expected to return in time for the Arsenal match. But many of Postecoglou’s other injured players should be back in time.
Richarlison and Ben Davies are both predicted to return for the Arsenal match, and suspended duo Rodrigo Bentancur and Djed Spence will have served their bans by then.
Then there’s little clarity over Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, but Postecoglou has previously suggested they’ll be back “in the new year”. So again, an appearance against Arsenal seems very possible.
Another more immediate impact of Spurs’ injury situation is that they have a League Cup semi-final coming up against Liverpool. The Gunners are in the other semi-final against Newcastle United, so wins for both teams would set up a north London derby final.
With Spurs losing heavily to Liverpool at home recently and their continuing injury problems, it looks like Arne Slot’s side will walk through that tie at the moment.