Mauricio Pochettino revealed Kieran Tripper picked up a groin injury in Wednesday night’s 3-1 win over Southampton, blaming the problem on the poor pitch conditions – patches of grass on Wembley Stadium have been decimated. The Tottenham boss believes Trippier is suffering a recurrence of the issue he had with England during the 2018 World Cup in Russia and says he might have to play through pain for some time.
Trippier came off after 86 minutes for Oliver Skipp to make his Premier League debut. The former made 93 touches against the Saints, made three tackles and interceptions, three clearances, blocked two shots, created two chances and whipped in eight crosses for his troubles. Pochettino has Serge Aurier who can deputise for Trippier at right-back, but the 28-year-old’s potential absence will be a big blow for Spurs.
As per Football.London, Pochettino said: “I think it’s the same problem, the same problem that started in the World Cup. If you remember the semi-final against Croatia, when he left the pitch. Then I think to play after three days against Belgium, I think maybe it affected a little bit.
“Now he’s suffering in that situation. In situations like today when the pitch is not in a good condition, this area, the groin, suffers more when the pitch is different. It’s a thing that we need to care a lot for him, protect him, he needs to work a lot to protect and sort that problem.
“It will be a long period for him suffering this type of problem. When I was in Argentina as a 19-year-old I suffered and it is an area that is difficult to sort out. But I don’t believe it’s a big thing. It’s only he needs to start to accept that situation and live with sometimes some pain and play.”
Trippier has been a key player for Tottenham this season, making 12 league appearances and three in the Champions League. His groin problem kept him out of Spurs’ last European outing against Inter Milan and league games against Chelsea and Arsenal and threatens to sideline Trippier for Tottenham’s upcoming matches against Leicester City (Premier League) and Barcelona (Champions League).