Ben Davies setback adds to Ange Postecoglou’s defensive headache at Tottenham
Radu Dragusin was also forced off at Nottingham Forest with an ankle injury.
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Your support makes all the difference.Tottenham’s injury crisis has deepened after Ben Davies suffered a setback in training to potentially leave Ange Postecoglou without a fit centre-back for Sunday’s visit of Wolves.
Spurs were already without Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Davies for Thursday’s 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest, but their issues were compounded when Radu Dragusin was forced off with an ankle problem.
It meant Tottenham finished the game with midfielders Archie Gray and Yves Bissouma at the heart of defence, and they could continue against Wolves after Davies suffered an untimely setback.
“No, he is ruled out. Unfortunately he had a setback in training, so he’ll probably be out for a couple of weeks,” Postecoglou said of Davies.
On Dragusin, the boss added: “A bit early to tell. He obviously tweaked his ankle last night and felt he couldn’t continue. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Full-back Djed Spence received a second yellow card on his return to the City Ground on Boxing Day to leave Postecoglou short of options in defence.
He said: “We’re in a tough spot and we have been for a while.
“We’ve been kind of getting through it for quite a while and keeping our fingers crossed we don’t get any more issues, but the nature of football and fixture scheduling we’ve had, we’ve always been on a fine line of being able to get through.
“It’s another test for us but it is what it is, and whatever we need to deal with, we’ll deal with and get ready for Sunday.”
Postecoglou acknowledged this period is the worst he has faced in his lengthy managerial career with Spurs potentially without nine players for the clash against Wolves, which has been a regular occurrence throughout December.
“There’s always been issues at different times but not to this extent. I think we’ve had close to pretty consistently 10 first-team players not available for a significant run of games. Definitely a first for me,” the 59-year-old said.
While there is a hope Dragusin could recover to face Wolves, if the Romanian international is absent there is limited options for Postecoglou, who was again asked about why there is no winter break this season.
He added: “I don’t know. I mean Yves has never played there (defence) so I am not sure why I would put him there. I had to put him there last night because I had no one else, but we’ll see.
“I think you are seeing with the league this year and that’s probably why it is so congested because a lot of teams – probably not to our extent – are affected by injuries.
“It is quite easy to pinpoint why. The workload players are expected to perform at, but I guess that’s one for the authorities to sort out.”
Guglielmo Vicario, Van de Ven, Romero, Davies, Spence, Mikey Moore, Wilson Odobert and Richarlison are definitely absent for Sunday’s fixture.