Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has provided a triple fitness update on Micky van de Ven, Timo Werner and Cristian Romero. All three players lined up from the start as the Lilywhites beat Manchester City 2-1 on Wednesday to book their place in the EFL Cup quarter-finals.
Werner scored the first goal of the night after just five minutes to finally open his account for the season, while the result ended a three-game winless streak against Pep Guardiola’s side. However, the win was not without cost. Van de Ven left the field in tears after just 14 minutes, appearing to clutch his hamstring after going down in pain.
Pape Sarr was brought off at half-time after scoring Tottenham’s second goal, but Postecoglou has already confirmed that was a tactical change. Romero was next to be withdrawn in the 52nd minute, adding further strain to the backline. And in the 69th minute, Werner was brought off to warm applause but looked to be in some discomfort.
Van de Ven and Werner both left the game against Manchester City due to injuries. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images).)
Tottenham have important games coming up, including a Premier League home game against Aston Villa and a Europa League meeting away to Galatasaray.
With that in mind, they can’t afford to suffer another injury catastrophe like the one they had last season.
In his post-match press conference, Postecoglou expressed optimism about Werner and Romero, but the early diagnosis for Van de Ven is not promising.
“Micky felt something in his hamstring,” Postecoglou explained.
Reporters (via Football.London). “I haven’t received a comprehensive update on him, but he did feel something, and we’ll see how he is.
“Cuti felt a little fatigued. I considered moving him at halftime, but after losing Micky, I didn’t want to lose another centre-half. He stated he felt fine, but my intuition told me there was no point taking a chance when we had Benny who could come on.
“Timo hasn’t played a lot so I felt it was more fatigue hopefully than anything else.”
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