Spurs Team News: Sherwood Offers Update On Dembele, Vertonghen, Capoue + More

Tottenham Hotspur will be looking to tighten their grip on sixth spot when they take on West Ham at Upton Park on Saturday afternoon.

Ahead of the game, boss Tim Sherwood has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this afternoon and gave TottenhamHotspur.com a team news and injury update.

Unfortunately, Mousa Dembele is still sidelined after failing to recover from an ankle injury that’s plagued him in recent weeks, with the problem restricting the midfielder to just one start since March 2nd.

Jan Vertonghen and Etienne Capoue returned from injury to play for the Under-21 side last weekend and Sherwood has confirmed the duo came through the game unscathed and have trained all this week. They will be assessed later today but the likelihood is tomorrow’s game will come too soon so they will miss the game along with Erik Lamela.

Sherwood also offered the latest on the fitness of Kyle Walker with the defender still working his way back to full fitness following a troublesome pelvic injury. The Spurs boss revealed that Walker is now working on his strength in the gym and although he won’t feature again for Tottenham this season, they hope he’ll be fit to take part in this summers World Cup with England.

Sherwood told the club website:

“There is no progress with Mousa, he’s still struggling with that ankle, it’s plagued him this season,” said Tim.

“They [Vertonghen and Capoue] were okay after that game and have trained this week. They will continue to train and be assessed but this game might come too soon for them.”

“Kyle is working on his strength in the gym. When you miss that much training with an injury like that around the pelvic area you need to build it up again and he’s missed so much now, we’re just hoping he could possibly still make the World Cup.”

So it looks like Sherwood will have to pick from the same squad that beat Stoke City 1-0 last weekend as he goes in search of a win that would put the club within touching distance of securing sixth place in the Premier League table and with it, Europa League football next year.