Tottenham Faces Injury Crisis Ahead of Premier League Opener
Tottenham’s Premier League campaign starts under a cloud on Saturday – and the storm is gathering in the treatment room.
Roberto De Zerbi takes his reshaped Spurs side across London to face Brentford, but he does so with an injury list that threatens to define his opening weeks in charge. Up to 13 players could be missing for the clash, and most of them belong to the visitors.
De Zerbi’s first big problem: who’s actually fit?
Tottenham, coming off back-to-back 17th-place finishes, are trying to drag themselves out of mediocrity after a busy summer of transfer business. De Zerbi has been brought in to jolt the club back to life. The recruitment drive has been bold. The availability list is anything but.
On Friday, the Italian cut straight to the point. Key defender Micky van de Ven? Out. First-choice right-back Pedro Porro? Also out.
“No, Micky is not on the list for tomorrow, like Pedro Porro and the other players are all inside,” De Zerbi said. “James Maddison is inside, Dominic Solanke is inside, Udogie is inside, Mateus Fernandes is inside.
“Pape Sarr, no, because he felt pain two days in his hamstring. Nothing important, but we don’t take risk with him and especially in this moment.”
So the spine of the side is in a strange limbo. Maddison, Solanke, Destiny Udogie and Mateus Fernandes are “inside” the squad, but not guaranteed to be fully ready. Sarr joins Van de Ven and Porro among the confirmed absentees.
Van de Ven held back, cover lined up
Van de Ven’s situation underlines De Zerbi’s approach. The Dutch defender has been back training with the group, but the manager refuses to gamble on him.
“Today he worked with us, with the group and he is going very well,” De Zerbi explained. “He suffered a problem during the pre-season of Australia, I don’t know if it was the flight, but not a big problem.
“We have Senesi, we have Ben Davies and in the right condition to play the game tomorrow.”
The message is clear: Spurs will lean on Marcos Senesi and Ben Davies at Brentford, while Van de Ven is wrapped in cotton wool for the longer haul.
Star quality stuck on the sidelines
The bad news does not stop there. Dejan Kulusevski, Wilson Odobert, Xavi Simons and Mohammed Kudus are all long-term absentees and remain unavailable.
“I think it’s important also the management of the players, when the players have some problem, we have to stay calm, don’t take risks,” De Zerbi said.
“We have Kulusevski, we have Odobert, we have Xavi Simons, injuries. Kudu is almost ready, that is a big point for us, but these three players are top players for us, and we're looking forward to watch them on the pitch.”
The anticipation around Kudus’ return offers a sliver of optimism, but for now De Zerbi must navigate the opening weeks without several of the players expected to carry his attacking vision.
Brentford’s issues far lighter
Across the technical area, Keith Andrews faces a much simpler puzzle.
Brentford’s problems are minor by comparison. Antoni Milambo is still working his way back from an ACL injury, while Sepp van den Berg will miss the start of the season with a groin problem.
“Antoni is a few weeks behind with the [ACL] injury,” Andrews said. “It’s not an exact science, naturally, but he’s had a really positive couple of weeks. He’s been training with the group for a number of weeks – sometimes modified, sometimes full training. He’s making really good strides.”
On Van den Berg, the Bees boss admitted the defender’s build-up has been far from ideal.
“We’ve had to manage that in a certain way,” he said. “He needs a little bit more rest, unfortunately. He’s had a disjointed pre-season – it hasn’t flowed as well as we’d have liked – so we’re going to have to look after him in the short term. He’ll miss the first few weeks of the season.”
So Brentford arrive with a largely settled group. Tottenham arrive patched up and stretched, their new era already being tested by circumstance.
For a club desperate to escape the bottom end of the table, the question is blunt: can De Zerbi’s makeshift side handle the heat of opening night, or will the injury crisis write the first chapter of their season for them?
