Tottenham Hotspur put together one of their better overall performances of the season on Sunday, roaring back from a 1-0 halftime deficit with four second half goals to defeat Aston Villa 4-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. But that win may have come at a significant cost. Spurs were forced to substitute central defender and team vice captain Cristian Romero with what looked like a foot injury midway through the second half, and impact substitute Richarlison appeared to pull his hamstring after assisting Dominic Solanke’s second goal and had to be likewise pulled.
Utility defender Ben Davies was a capable replacement in central defense for Romero, but Richarlison’s injury felt particularly cruel as he had only recently returned from a separate injury and now potentially faces another spell on the sidelines.
Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou was asked about his team’s injuries in the post match press conference, and while he didn’t have a whole lot of information to share, he did acknowledge that it could put Spurs into a tricky situation heading into next week’s matches against Galatasaray in the Europa League and next weekend’s Premier League fixture against Ipswich Town.
“Richy obviously felt something in the action of setting the goal up, his hamstring, so we’ll see. Romero yeah, it was in that challenge again. He felt his foot was sore. I don’t have any sort of further information. obviously, he’s a pretty tough cookie for him to come off, it must be sore, but yeah, look it’s not ideal. But again it’s another game where we’ve had to reshuffle our back line.
“Radu [Dragusin] has played left centre-back, right centre-back, left centre-back, right-centre-back, Ben Davies has had to come in at different times and Destiny midweek and the boys are handling it really well. As I said it’s not ideal but, hopefully both are not too serious.”
With Micky van de Ven also out with a hamstring strain until after the upcoming international break, Spurs face the prospects of a makeshift back line for the next two matches. It’s ironic as well that a similar string of injuries and suspensions hobbled Tottenham around this time last season. This time, however, Spurs have at least nominal depth, with Radu Dragusin playing well in relief of Van de Ven and Davies showing he can be a serviceable central defender. Archie Gray has also played central defense this season and could slot into the lineup in a pinch, though it’s more likely he’ll be needed at right back in Istanbul this coming Wednesday.
Fans were also edgy after Tottenham’s captain Son Heung-Min, himself back for his first match after missing a couple of weeks with another muscle injury, was subbed off by Postecoglou at the hour mark. The decision turned some heads, but Ange clarified that pulling Sonny early was always the plan as he wanted to manage his minutes upon his return from injury.
“He was never going to play more than that today because,, obviously he had an injury, came back and last time it was around the 60 minute mark where he kind of got fatigued last time. So he was never going to play more than sort of 55/60 minutes irrespective of how the game was going.
“The great thing was that he made a pretty important contribution, before that, the great ball in for our first goal and we got our equaliser. So, you know, again, we got more battles ahead and we’re going to need him. So he was never going to play more than that.
“I didn’t see any difference in Sonny. I’d be surprised if any player likes coming off and they’re feeling all right. But no, no, I didn’t need to discuss it with him. And you know, like I said, for us, what’s more important is the overall picture.”
Tottenham’s players received perhaps a little extra motivation ahead of this match as they played on the birthday of Ugo Ehiogu, the former Tottenham academy coach who passed away after a heart attack in 2017. Ehiogu was a huge influence on that generation of Spurs academy players, some of which are still at the club, and commemorating his life with a win on his birthday was obviously meaningful. Postecoglou noted that assistant coach Matt Wells, who coached the academy alongside Ehiogu, gave a meaningful team talk about Ehiogu’s life and legacy this week.
“I’m really proud of the lads. It was an important day for us today. Because it’s also the birthday of the late Ugo Ehiogu and he had a big influence on Matty Wells here at the club, I know he played for Villa but he was obviously a coach at our football club. Matty spoke really strongly about him. When you hear things like that, and how people affect your life, it helps give clarity to the players about what we’re trying to do here. Obviously for his wife and his son probably a tough day, but hopefully they get a little bit cheer from the fact Wellsy made it a really important point, that he may be gone but he’s not forgotten.”
Spurs will need to wait for more info before they learn how long Richarlison and Romero will remain sidelined, but with the international break coming after this coming week’s fixtures, it’s a timely break that could give both players a chance to rest and heal. Spurs’ next match is Wednesday evening in the Europa League against Galatasaray in Istanbul.