Tottenham Hotspur have a number of injury concerns ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Fulham
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Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has admitted that defender Cristian Romero is likely to miss a third-straight fixture but has yet to rule the player out of Sunday’s meeting with Fulham.
The 26-year-old has struggled with a number of problems recently. He missed Spurs’ Europa League loss to Galatasaray before the international break but did return for the Premier League loss to Ipswich Town and then jetted off to South American to join up with Argentina. He came off at half-time in a clash with Paraguay and then missed the following international contest with Peru. Since returning to England, he has missed the remarkable win over Manchester City and Thursday’s 2-2 draw with AS Roma in the Europa League. Ahead of Sunday’s game with Fulham, Postecoglou insisted he was not ready to rule Romero out but did admit he was unlikely to recover in time.
"Romero is closer (to returning), he is probably the closest," the Spurs boss explained, via the club website. "He's probably unlikely, but I'm not ruling him out, he's still got to get through some things today and the session tomorrow. From last night, at this stage, it is a clean bill of health. Mind you, I thought that last week and then I had a guy in surgery (Guglielmo Vicario) an hour later... I think everything is alright from last night."
Given that Romero is the closest to returning and is still a doubt, it can be safely assumed that Micky van de Ven, Richarlison, Wilson Odobert, Mikey Moore and Guglielmo Vicario all remain out with injury while Rodrigo Bentancur serves the second match of his seven-game ban. The positive news for Spurs is that Dominic Solanke is not facing a significant injury after a challenge from Mats Hummels on Thursday night. The former Liverpool and Bournemouth striker did not look completely comfortable but the Spurs boss revealed he is just a bit sore. He added: "He's fine. He is a bit sore. He's working hard for us but, at this stage, (there's) nothing too significant (injury wise).”
As mentioned, goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has undergone ankle surgery. It was revealed earlier this week that the player would be facing months out. Postecoglou said of the injury and the possible timeframe for a return: "I guess it was a bit of a shock, first of all. We saw he'd picked up the injury during the game. We saw him at half time, but there was no doubt about him continuing. You digest that and then, post-game, he was sore but, you're kind of like, he's just played 60 minutes with a sore ankle, but we'll tape it up and go again.
"Externally people now realise, it's a testament to him as a person. He's as tough as nails and tough as they come. The fact that he played at that level for 60 minutes with a fractured ankle was quite outstanding. The shock of it wears off and then you have to process that he's going to be missing for a while. Knowing him, he'll push the limits of how long that is. Also, knowing him, you'll get daily updates about that on his Instagram! It's a big blow, and for him personally, because he was having an outstanding season for us and really growing as a leader within the group but we've dealt with setbacks before and we'll deal with this one.
"It's not going to be weeks. It'll be months. He's had his surgery and, you know with surgery, there's certain timelines and because it's Vic... I don't like giving timelines so early in the process as something like that as it puts undue pressure on the player and some expectations. I think once we're past the rehab stage and he starts getting out (onto the training pitch), we'll have a clearer idea."