Tottenham Suffer Huge Triple Injury Blow Ahead Of Arsenal Showdown

Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a triple injury blow ahead of Sunday’s clash with Arsenal with Mousa Dembele the latest key man to pick up a knock ahead of the game, according to the Express.

Dembele has only recently returned to full fitness after missing a large part of the season so far through injury and the midfielder started in Tottenham’s Champions League clash with Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night.

However, the Belgian international limped off after just 30 minutes after picking up a foot injury and was seen with an ice pack applied to his ankle while he sat on the bench for the remainder of the game.

Dembele is now considered as a major doubt for Sunday’s trip to the Emirates with Mauricio Pochettino confirming after the 1-0 defeat to Leverkusen that the midfielder asked to come off after twisting his ankle.

Pochettino is quoted as saying by the Express:

“He was injured. He asked me (to come off).

“It was his ankle, I think he twisted his ankle and that is the reason he came off. It was not tactical.”

It will be a big blow for Spurs if they lose Dembele as Moussa Sissoko is suspended for the Arsenal game while Eric Dier is currently filling in at centre-back in the absence of Toby Alderweireld, so Pochettino won’t have too many options in central midfield.

The Argentinean coach had hoped that Alderweireld would be fit to face Arsenal but the centre-backs knee injury has proven difficult to overcome and Pochettino admitted last night that the defender won’t be able to start this weekend.

And in a triple blow, the Tottenham boss also revealed that Harry Kane is also going to be short of fitness to start the North London Derby. The striker returned to training last week after overcoming an ankle injury but Pochettino has admitted he won’t be ready to start at the Emirates.

When asked whether Alderweireld or Kane would be ready to face Arsenal, the Spurs boss is quoted as saying by the Express:

“No….difficult. Maybe Harry Kane will be available but it’s difficult to play him from the start.

“It’s not fair to talk about names of players who didn’t play [on Wednesday]. We are in a bad moment, we need to be critical and honest.”

Spurs head to the Emirates in poor form having not won any of their previous six games in all competitions with three Premier League draws in a row leaving them fifth in the table and three points off joint leaders Arsenal.