The term ‘injury crisis’ gets thrown a lot far too much for my liking nowadays, so the fact that certain segments of the media and our fanbase have described Spurs as being victims of one despite only having three players that would be deemed potential starters naturally does not sit well with me.
However, given the impact that Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski have had on the team since their deadline-day arrival from Juventus last January, doing without the pair may very well be seen as a crisis for many associated with the club, especially with the recent tosh churned out by our lot at home to Villa without them still very much fresh in the memory.
Indeed, Bentancur will still be out of the match with his abductor injury, but it is hoped that he will be back for the North London Derby in just under a fortnight. Yves Bissouma, who would ordinarily be Bentancur’s replacement in the middle, is suspended after the accumulation of five yellow cards during Sunday’s defeat to Villa.
It is therefore expected that Pape Matar Sarr or Oliver Skipp will step in for Bissouma to partner Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the middle of the park – given his greater level of top-flight experience, my money would be on Skipp.
Kulusevski was described by Conte as being 50-50 for the match, so we’ll see how this goes – if he is out, it will likely be Bryan Gil to deputies for the Swede, just as he did on Sunday, with Richarlison and Lucas Moura still ruled out for the foreseeable future. Let’s hope this is not the case.
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