Tottenham Facing Injury Crisis With 10 Players Ruled Out Of Benfica Clash

Tottenham Hotspur are facing an injury crisis ahead of Thursday nights Europa League second league clash with Benfica.

Tim Sherwood held his pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon and has travelled out to Portugal without 10 first team squad players.

Defence is a particular issue for the north Londoners with Jan Vertonghen suspended after picking up another booking during last weeks 3-1 first leg defeat at White Hart Lane, and with Vlad Chiriches, Michael Dawson and Younes Kaboul all out injured, it leaves Sherwood without his four first choice centre-backs.

It means Sandro is expected to drop back into defence and could be joined by either full-back Zeki Fryers or youngster Milos Velkovic at the heart of the Spurs defence. Danny Rose faces a late fitness test but is expected to be passed fit, while Kyle Naughton will fill in at right-back with Kyle Walker left back in London with an ongoing pelvic injury.

Sherwood has also confirmed that Paulinho and Emmanuel Adebayor have not travelled as they nurse knocks, and they join Erik Lamela, Etienne Capoue and Mousa Dembele on the sidelines.

The Daily Mail claim that ‘six or seven’ Academy players have been called up to the senior squad to fill the void, so it’s going to be a tall order for Tottenham to turn around their first leg defeat to progress to the last 16.

What team do you think Sherwood should put out? Share your views below.