Tottenham will be without the likes of Toby Alderweireld, Victor Wanyama and Davinson Sanchez for their home fixture against Brighton, the club have officially confirmed.
Barring Wanyama and Sanchez, the Lilywhites have suffered a big blow regarding Alderweireld as Pochettino has confirmed that the Belgian will be out until the start of February. The 28-year-old centre-back picked up a hamstring injury in the Champions League win over Real Madrid on Nov. 1, and even though Pochettino initially quoted his return would be ‘after Christmas’, a recent scan this week has confirmed that he won’t be available until February. Pochettino was quoted by Football.London as saying:
“He cannot play until February. With him or without him, we win and we lose. The manager always wants all the players fit to play, like [Victor] Wanyama and like Erik Lamela and Danny Rose before. You always miss the unfit players — that’s normal. But football is a collective sport, about the team, not about individuals.
“Of course some players have more influence on the team but we have squad enough, players who can win or lose. It’s about collective, not one or another player.”
TEAM NEWS: @AlderweireldTob (hamstring), @VictorWanyama (knee) and @daosanchez26 (suspended) remain unavailable for tomorrow’s game. #COYS pic.twitter.com/tR9AJh3I96
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 12, 2017
Meanwhile, Wanyama, the Kenya international, has been absent since August with a knee injury and despite taking part in the warm up with the first team on Monday, he will be unavailable for the fixture. Davinson Sanchez, on the other hand, will be serving his second of a three-game ban.
The former Ajax centre-back received his marching orders for catching Richarlison with a stray elbow in the 52nd minute of the 1-1 draw against Watford and missed out on Tottenham’s 5-1 win against Stoke over the weekend.
With that being done, Eric Dier was moved to the centre-back spot alongside Jan Vertonghen against Stoke, and the same is expected to be the case on Wednesday. Furthermore, the only positive for Tottenham fans regarding the injury layoffs remains the fact that Erik Lamela is back in action.
Pochettino has slowly slotted the Argentine into the squad and when quipped about whether the winger will start against the Brighton, Pochettino said,
“Maybe, maybe. I still haven’t decided. I will decide today for tomorrow. Yes he has a chance to play from the start tomorrow.”
Despite the setback regarding the other absentees, the return of Lamela is a huge boost for us. The absence of Alderweireld is a big blow but I believe we have enough depth and quality to deal with it.
