Let’s start by saying that Tottenham skipper and France #1 Hugo Lloris is one of the best goalkeepers in the world and the injury he suffered on Saturday was not pleasant or a good thing to happen whatsoever. The error aside, we’re all just pleased that Lloris didn’t suffer a break of any kind.
The Frenchman has a chance to get himself in a good place to start his recovery whilst the international break is upon us, although Summit Medical Group claim that a dislocated elbow is a serious injury that can take between four and six weeks to recover from.
With that in mind, it looks like Lloris is going to be set to miss quite a few matches, and should be expected back in the Tottenham side around the middle of November if things progress naturally. That means that stand-in stopper Paulo Gazzaniga can expect to feature in at least the next six games up until November 11th.
The Argentine will be used to pro-longed spells in the starting eleven owing to the fact that he played plenty of times last season. If Lloris was fit he would play and captain the side, but as he’s committed two howlers in two weeks, the forced change to bring in Gazzaniga isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world.
Whilst Lloris recovers physically, he’ll be doing the same thing mentally after a testing start to the season, and the time out of the side should allow Harry Kane to become the stand-in skipper and hopefully lead by example upfront whilst Gazzaniga can hold the fort between the sticks.
One of the main positives about having Gazzaniga in the side from a goalkeeping perspective too is his ability to distribute the ball. He may have looked sloppy against Brighton, spooming one out for a throw-in when attempting to find Toby Alderweireld, but we all know what he can do after last season when he racked up 11 appearances and kept four clean sheets, despite starting the season as the club’s 3rd choice.