Tottenham striker Richarlison was substituted in the second half against Leicester City with a groin problem
Tottenham Hotspur’s crisis continued on Sunday in perhaps their worst defeat of the season thus far. The Lilywhites lost 2-1 at home to relegation-threatened Leicester City despite taking the lead to put coach Ange Postecoglou under a lot of pressure.
While there are bigger issues in play to explain Spurs’ dismal Premier League form of just one win in 11 games, the injury crisis at the club cannot be ignored. James Maddison was ruled out for Tottenham with a calf problem before the Leicester City game, adding to the list of unavailable players. And during the game, Richarlison suffered a fresh injury setback that forced Ange Postecoglou to substitute him in the second half.
Richarlison had given Tottenham a first-half lead with a diving header, but the Foxes scored twice in three minutes after the break through Jamie Vardy and Bilal El Khannouss to condemn Postecoglou’s side to another forgettable afternoon in North London. After the game, Big Ange revealed that he had taken the Brazilian off following a groin complaint.
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Football London journalist Alasdair Gold has expressed his frustration over Richarlison’s potential fresh injury. In conversation with fellow journalist Rob Guest on Gold and Guest Talk Tottenham podcast, Gold claims it would be “utterly ridiculous” if Richarlison suffered a new injury after recently returning to full fitness.
“The other side of the issue is that they’re [Spurs] running low on attackers. I mean, if Richarlison is injured now, I mean, that in itself would just be utterly ridiculous if he’s got another injury kind of thing. We’ll find out at the press conference on Wednesday, probably the latest with that. But if he’s injured, then their attack pretty much fit player-wise is Kulusevski, Son and Mikey Moore,” Gold said Gold and Guest Talk Tottenham podcast.
Richarlison has only returned from injury after spending months on the sidelines with a hamstring issue. The 27-year-old has barely featured for Ange Postecoglou’s side this season. Back-to-back hamstring injuries meant he missed significant portions of the first half of the 2024/25 campaign.
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As a result, the South American has failed to provide back-up to club-record signing Dominic Solanke, who has been ruled out up to mid-March with a knee injury. Big Ange’s revelation of Richarlison complaining about his groin leads to a potential fresh setback, which is a huge shame for a player who worked so hard behind the scenes to recover from successive hamstring issues.
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The forward simply cannot catch a break from injury problems and so are Tottenham on the whole. Fans can only wish and pray that the groin concern isn’t a serious one and Richarlison manages to overcome it ahead of our crucial upcoming games against IF Elfsborg and Brentford.
