Tottenham Hotspur are enduring an injury crisis similar to Newcastle United’s last season.
During Newcastle’s 2023/24 campaign, they had a slew of injuries and Sandro Tonali’s suspension to deal with which hindered their form.
It’s a thing of the past for Eddie Howe though who has his squad thriving at the moment. Newcastle’s win against Aston Villa on Thursday was a sign that any poor form earlier in the season has been forgotten as the Magpies made it three Premier League wins in a row.
After Monday’s game against Manchester United, who have Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte suspended – Newcastle take on Tottenham, who haven’t exactly been in dazzling form themselves.
It feels like the perfect time for Newcastle to play them as they’ve now lost two games on the spin to Liverpool and Nottingham Forest – teams the Geordies have had positive results against this season.
Now, Spurs boss Ange Postecoglu has confirmed more injury woes ahead of Newcastle’s visit to the capital.
Ange Postecoglou confirms Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin setbacks
The Spurs boss spoke ahead of their game against Wolves on Sunday which was aired on Tottenham’s website where he provided an injury update.
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The Australian confirmed that left-back Ben Davies and defender Radu Dragusin have both picked up knocks.
“(Davies) is ruled out,” he said.
“Unfortunately, he had a setback in training, so he’s probably out for another couple of weeks.”
On Dragusin, he said: ‘It’s a bit early to tell; he tweaked his ankle (against Forest) and felt like he couldn’t continue, so we’ll have to wait and see. We’ll wait until he gets in (for training) and assess him from there.”
As well as Davies and with Dragusin looking doubtful, Spurs will definitely be without Micky van de Ven, Christian Romero and Guglielmo Vicario meaning they’re without most of their usual back four. Former Newcastle goalkeeper Fraser Forster is currently playing in net for Spurs during Vicario’s absence.
Although suspended for the game against Wolves, Djed Spence will be available for the game against Newcastle.
Newcastle United also have injuries
Despite their good form, Newcastle are still without some key players going into the games against Man United and Spurs.
Sven Botman is still yet to return to Newcastle’s first-team. That is even with Botman playing 60 minutes for Newcastle’s under-21s earlier in December.
Jamaal Lascelles is due back in early February, like Botman he suffered an ACL injury in March which has kept him out ever since.
Emil Krafth is currently out with a broken collarbone but is back running doing non-contact training and Tino Livramento missed the win against Aston Villa due to illness but Howe has confirmed that he should return for the trip to Old Trafford.