“Pretty clear”- National team boss reveals injured Spurs ace will meet specialist after serious injury

Tottenham Hotspur told Matt Doherty will meet specialist after suffering knee ligament injury

Ireland boss Stephen Kenny has expressed that Tottenham Hotspur star Matt Doherty will meet with a specialist after he picked up a knee ligament injury. The right wing-back suffered the blow during the 4-0 victory against Aston Villa, and it is expected that he will be out of contention for the rest of this season.

Doherty had to be subbed in the first half due to the setback as he failed to carry on following a challenge from Matty Cash. The early diagnosis has revealed that the defender will sit on the sidelines for the remainder of the current campaign. He could even miss the UEFA Nations League for Ireland, which will take place this summer.

Speaking in an interview with The Irish Sun, Kenny has revealed that the 30-year-old will meet an injury specialist today to get more information regarding the knee problem. The coach added that they would receive a firm idea after the meeting, although it is expected that the wing-back would be an absentee for the Nations League.

“I wouldn’t be too optimistic of having Matt available in June. It’s early days and we’ll see how he is, he’s seeing a specialist tomorrow, we’ll be wiser then. The initial prognosis they were talking 10-12 weeks, it’s a knee ligament injury, that’s where we are with that.”

“You never know with these things, you can be surprised, but it seems pretty clear on this one, we’ll know more tomorrow but it seems it is that kind of time frame.”

Damning blow indeed

It is unfortunate that the Irishman has endured this injury at a time when he has been racking up excellent performances one after the other. That saw him cement his authority as a starter under Antonio Conte before it was brought to a halt by this knee problem.

The sentiment surrounding this injury is that the chances of early recovery are very slim, going by the Ireland coach’s words. That being said, we remain hopeful that the defender can return sooner as the setback turned out to be worse than we had feared initially.

The former Wolverhampton Wanderers man has enjoyed a resurgence under Conte after failing to recreate his best form since joining the North Londoners. Doherty was utilised as a full-back rather than a wing-back in the past which could explain the reason for his struggles.

However, the Spurs boss has now used the Premier League ace as a wing-back, which has given him the license to bomb forward in the attack. As such, Doherty has been one of our best performers in the last few weeks, which makes this blow even more frustrating under the current circumstances.

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After all, we are battling it out with the likes of Arsenal, for example, to achieve qualification for next season’s Champions League. Losing Doherty is a massive concern, but we are hoping that Emerson Royal can use this opportunity to finally express himself as he did at Real Betis.

If not him, then Japhet Tanganga has played down the right flank of the defence before. However, being a centre-back, Tanganga doesn’t boast of the same attacking incision as his two counterparts in that position.