Djed Spence is confident of keeping Mohamed Salah quiet when Tottenham take on Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur take on Liverpool in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final on Thursday.
The game at Anfield is arguably the season’s biggest fixture for Ange Postecoglou and his side, with Spurs enjoying a slender 1-0 advantage from the first leg courtesy of a late Lucas Bergvall goal. They will be heading to Merseyside off the back of a morale-boosting 2-0 away win over Brentford in the Premier League.
Spurs’ injury crisis does not seem to be coming to an end anytime soon, though. Radu Dragusin has been ruled out for the rest of the season and beyond following an ACL injury in his right knee. Ange Postecoglou confirmed both Micky Van de Ven and Cristian Romero will be unavailable for the critical semi-final clash against Liverpool.
Additionally, Wilson Odobert, Dominic Solanke, Destiny Udogie, Guglielmo Vicario, Timo Werner, James Maddison and Brennan Johnson are all currently on the treatment table. Postecoglou did deliver some good news on the availability front, though, with both new signings Mathys Tel and Kevin Danso set to be part of the travelling squad.
And one player who looks certain to start on Thursday is Djed Spence. The Englishman has been among Spurs’ consistent performers in the last two months amid the injury crisis. Predominantly a right-back/wing-back, the 24-year-old has largely deputised for the injured Udogie at left-back, delivering some eye-catching displays.
One of those came against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup first leg at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the first week of January, where Djed Spence nullified Mohamed Salah’s threat completely. His strong defensive performance against one of the world’s best forwards helped keep the holders at bay in January’s first-leg win. The full-back aims to keep the Egyptian under wraps again and help his side reach the competition’s final.
“I back myself against any winger, Salah or whoever. I back myself against anyone,” Spence told The Standard.
“[Salah] is a great player, a top player. He’s in good form also. You’ve just got to nullify what he’s good at it, really. He’s good at a lot of things, I just gotta stay focused on it and hopefully come out on top.
“We’re always ready. We’ve got to be confident and we gotta be ready to fight, and hopefully we make it to the final. I take confidence from every game, every game I’m gonna feel more confident and hopefully get better.”
Spence is showing the Tottenham fans and the head coach his qualities. Having arrived at the club back in 2022, the full-back had played just 43 minutes in a Spurs shirt before the start of this campaign. Even Big Ange had omitted him from his squads before an unprecedented injury situation forced his hand, leading to Spence being brought back into the mix.
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The former England youth international has done a commendable job in the unfavored left-back role. Spence produced a Man of the Match display in Spurs’ 2-0 win over Brentford on Sunday, keeping the in-form and tricky Bryan Mbeumo quiet. This should give the Spurs full-back a lot of confidence in going up against the deadly Salah, who has been the Premier League’s best player this season.
