It’s not exactly a surprise that Tottenham Hotspur will be missing a few key players ahead of this Saturday’s match against Manchester City at the Etihad, but now we have confirmation. Speaking to Sky Sports (and as reported in the Standard), Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou confirmed today that Spurs will play against the defending Premier League champions without either of its starting central defenders, Cuti Romero and Micky van de Ven.
Romero was subbed off after aggravating an existing toe injury while playing for Argentina in World Cup qualifying during the past international break. He withdrew from the Argentina squad after the first match of the cycle and returned to North London, but it appears his recovery will come too late for the City match. Van de Ven, meanwhile, is still recovering from a pulled hamstring sustained several weeks ago, but Postecoglou said he likely won’t return to the pitch for another couple of weeks.
Ange also congratulated Romero on the birth of his daughter Lucy, who was born on Wednesday.
“Happy for Cristian and his wife on the birth of their baby girl. He is still not 100 per cent so he is a doubt definitely for the weekend. Everyone else from the internationals got through well.
“Micky is still a couple of weeks away. He is on the grass training but he is still a couple of weeks away. We’re hoping by the middle of December he is back and available to play.”
So that almost certainly means a back line of Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies against City at the Etihad. Now, to be fair that was the same pairing used to beat City in the Carabao Cup last month; perhaps lightning will strike twice? Sure would be nice (and funny). [Editor’s note: As Dan Kilpatrick kindly pointed out to me on Bluesky, Romero DID start the Cup win over City and was subbed off after 52 minutes. But that left a whole 38 minutes of Dragoo-Davies. Details, Dan. Details.]
In addition to Romero and van de Ven, Spurs are without both Richarlison and Wilson Odobert on the long-term injury list. We are still waiting on an update on Timo Werner and Mikey Moore, who both have been nursing either injuries or illness. Rodrigo Bentancur, of course, begins his seven-match FA-imposed ban with this match, pending the result of his appeal.