Liverpool
Tottenham Boss Confirms Double Injury Blow But Defender Returns To Face Liverpool
Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed a double injury blow ahead of Tottenham’s clash with Liverpool but a defender is set to return.
Tottenham Hotspur will be looking to keep pace with the top two when they take on Liverpool at Wembley on Sunday afternoon.
Ahead of the game, Mauricio Pochettino has been speaking at his pre-match press conference this afternoon and he’s given reporters the latest team and injury news.
Unfortunately for Spurs, the Argentinean coach delivered a double injury blow with Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama both suffering setbacks this week.
Dembele has only recently returned from injury but the Belgian international aggravated a hip problem while training ahead of their Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
Pochettino says the north Londoners don’t know how long Dembele will be ruled out for as the midfielder is being further assessed by the clubs medical department.
Wanyama on the other hand has missed the majority of the campaign so far with a knee ligament injury and Tottenham have had to send him to see a specialist as he’s failed to make the expected progress in recent weeks.
Danny Rose made his long-awaited return from a knee injury during the closing stages against Madrid and although Pochettino says the defender is still not ready to start against Liverpool, he could line-up against West Ham in the League Cup next week.
The Tottenham boss is quoted as saying by ESPN:
“We are concerned about his [Wanyama] situation. We must wait for when he sees the specialist and then we’ll see what happens. But of course after some time without him involved in the training sessions and with the team, we are concerned. But now we need to wait next week to have a more clear idea of what’s going on.”
“He [Dembele] had an incident in one of the training sessions [in Madrid], and complained about one of his hips and he’s not able to cope with the intensity of the training. It’s as simple as that. It’s been three or four days since the incident and he can’t cope with the intensity of the training.”
“He [Rose] is still not ready to start. He needs to build up his fitness but we are so happy because he’s doing very well. He had the possibility to be on the bench on Tuesday. It was important for the team and to play a few minutes. Always, when you start to feel involved again and help the team, it’s so important after 10 months. Now it’s a process to build up [his fitness] and get him better every day and then we’ll see if on Wednesday he has the possibility maybe to be in the starting XI. It depends on the progression.”
There was better news regarding Ben Davies as the defender is fit to return to the Tottenham squad after recovering from illness which has kept him out of the last two games.
Erik Lamela is another long-term absentee for Spurs and isn’t ready to return this weekend but the Argentinean attacker could be back on the bench for the League Cup clash with West Ham.
