Tottenham Team News: Pochettino Confirms Triple Injury Blow Ahead Of Arsenal Clash

Tottenham Hotspur host North London rivals Arsenal at White Hart Lane on Wednesday night in the third round of the Capital One Cup.

Ahead of the game, Mauricio Pochettino has been speaking to the media this afternoon at his pre-match press conference and has given reporters a team news and injury update.

The Spurs boss confirmed a triple injury blow with Nabil Bentaleb, Mousa Dembele and Ryan Mason all ruled out of the game after failing to recover from their respective injuries.

Mason has missed Tottenham’s last two games after suffering a knee injury while scoring a late winner against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light earlier this month.

Dembele has been out since picking up a foot problem against Everton in late August while Bentaleb has missed the last three matches because of an ankle injury.

All three midfielders have returned to training and are close to making their comebacks, but Pochettino has confirmed the Arsenal clash will come just too soon.

He told the clubs official website:

“Mousa, Ryan and Nabil are still out,”

“Their progression is very good, they are close to being back with the squad but not for Wednesday, unlucky for them and for us.”

Pochettino also revealed that he plans to rotate his squad for the visit of the Gunners as they’ve got a busy couple of weeks that see then play Manchester City on Saturday before trips to Monaco and Swansea.

The Argentinean was quoted as saying by the Express:

“We have a squad that is full of important players. But we have some injuries and we will rotate the team in our different games.

“The key is you need to translate the confidence in your squad and I trust my squad.

“The players that can play tomorrow I have no doubts will do their best for the team.

“You will see that the players who started against Man Utd (on first day of Premier League season) compared to the team against Crystal Palace.

“Sometimes you believe a match is not our priority when we have selected the team. But always you need to show respect in your squad.

“Whether you play in the Premier League or the Europa League or the FA Cup, we have enough quality players to play in different competitions.
“In every competition, it’s our priority to win every game. We have three games in one week, a lot of tough games. I have not taken a decision yet for the starting XI.”

The likes of Harry Kane, Jan Vertonghen, Kyle Walker and Nacer Chadli could all be given a breather tomorrow night with Kieran Trippier, Kevin Wimmer, Andros Townsend and Tom Carroll among those pushing for starts.