Breaking:Tottenham have eight injury doubts for Wolves after Van de Ven update

Tottenham have eight injury doubts for Wolves after Van de Ven update

Tottenham injury news as Spurs are set for their biggest challenge of the season with suspensions and fitness fears at a key stage for Ange Postecoglou

BookmarkJames Maddison went down for Tottenham against Chelsea and had to be taken off (Image: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Tottenham’s starting XI to face Wolves on Saturday is likely to be at least four players different to the one that got the nod against Chelsea, in reality it could be more. By the 60th minute only four players that started the game were on the pitch, just three of them were outfielders.

It is, by now, nothing new to reflect on but a backline including Eric Dier, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Emerson Royal was not on the cards at 8pm on Monday but some of those outcasts may well have to get themselves ready for a run of games now. Luckily for Ange Postecoglou there is just one game left before the international break and a fortnight to recover and regroup.

How he deals with the issues facing him for the early trip to Molineux is another question entirely. At the very least there will be no Cristian Romero or Destiny Udogie due to the red cards they picked up across a mad 30 minutes in north London. Alongside Pedro Porro will be a gaping hole in the defence.

Micky van de Ven’s hamstring injury was perhaps the worst moment of the night. Not only due to his importance in the side and the relationship he had built with Romero, Udogie and Guglielmo Vicario in particular but also because the squad depth is so shallow. His blow was by far the worst looking and Postecoglou now faces an anxious.

It already appears to be a case of how long he will be out for rather than if he will miss the clash with Wolves, that is almost a given at this stage. “It’s too early, Postecoglou said after the game. “With Micky it’s a pretty significant one so you’d assume he’ll be out for a little while.”

Reports also suggest that Spurs are still to learn the severity of the injury on Wednesday. Young summer addition Ashley Philips was left out of the Under-21 squad that played Cambridge on Tuesday with that acting as a potential hint that he is in line to deputise, at least as cover to Dier. Alfie Dorrington, who has made a good impression on Postecoglou, did play in the game.

James Maddison was also forced off just moments later after taking a blow of his own. “He [Maddison] got a knock on the ankle,” the boss said. “We were down one man already. It made sense to make a couple of changes at that point.”

The incident looked to be more of an impact injury and perhaps not one that will be too serious moving forward, he is however still an early doubt to play again before the break. In the mean time Maddison has engaged in a back-and-forth with John Terry online after the game to the joy of Chelsea fans.

These two blows come on top of a set of longer-term injuries for Spurs including Ivan Perisic and Manor Solomon, neither of which will play again until well into 2024. Ryan Sessegnon is in the same camp for now and there is an unknown potential period out for Richarlison to follow as well.

He admitted earlier this month that he will be having surgery on his pelvis in order to get some comfort after struggling for months. “Of course I expected to play today as it was an important game, a classic,” he told ESPN on Monday. “Yesterday I found out that I wasn’t going to play, but it’s part of football. Of course selection, call-up, you can ask any player and he’ll be waiting. Of course I expected it, but I already felt that it was also time to take a break.

“Look, the last few months haven’t been easy for me. I’ve also been suffering with my health, I think I’ve already spoken to the doctors and I’ll soon have pubic surgery. I’ve been suffering for eight months, fighting, looking at the team, at the club and I didn’t look for me. I think the time has come to rest, take a break. Let’s see the next few days, soon I’ll do what’s best for me.”

Ben Davies was another that didn’t make the squad and is the obvious replacement for Udogie when fit. “Benny Davies, who came off at half-time [against Crystal Palace], still has a bit of an ankle problem and hasn’t trained with the team yet so he’s touch and go,” the boss had said ahead of the game.

On the positive side of things there was another appearance for Rodrigo Bentancur. He came off the bench again, this time in massively different circumstances. He nearly found a late equaliser for his side and may well be looking to keep increasing his workload in the coming weeks.

Tottenham are certainly going to need their entire squad to come together now with Bryan Gil and Giovani Lo Celso also in the spotlight to fill in given the troubles.

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