Tottenham: Postecoglou confirms double injury blow with key duo ruled out for ‘a couple of months’

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has revealed they are going to be without key duo Micky van de Ven and James Maddison until January.

Van de Ven and Maddison suffered hamstring and ankle injuries respectively in Monday’s 4-1 loss at home to Chelsea after shining for Spurs during the early stages of this campaign.

Spurs also had Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie sent off during their chaotic first defeat of the season so Postecoglou will be without a few key players for this weekend’s trip to Wolves.

“Fair to say a fair bit happened after Monday,” boss Postecoglou reflected.

“Micky obviously with that hamstring injury, we knew it was fairly significant, probably a couple of months for him looking into the new year.

“Madders is a lot worse than we thought. He came off with an ankle injury and the next day wasn’t great, so we sent him for a scan. Again probably into the new year for him.

“Richy (Richarlison) should only be a month so not too long after international break, so they are the main ones, but we’ve got a couple of suspensions as well.

“Ben Davies is back and available. (Pedro) Porro is fine, he trained no problem.”

TRANSFER GOSSIP: Man Utd to move for bargain striker as Spurs renew interest in Prem defender

Postecoglou has also claimed that VAR stoppages lead to the muscle injuries suffered by his players.

“Absolutely. I am not going to draw a direct correlation to Micky’s injury but I was half-tempted to throw some balls out there for them to kick around.

“It’s the reason we have warm-ups but if you’re going into a game, the fact there was only 47 minutes of game time the other night in whatever it was, 110, that is not ideal for the type of athletes we have out there.”

When asked whether Tottenham’s injuries could be an opportunity for Giovani Lo Celso, he answered: “Look, it is not just Gio, it is Bryan Gil, we’ve got to be careful with Bentancur a bit, it is for him, it’s for Skippy, for Eric Dier, for all these guys.

“That is why they have been training hard. They have been training with us, they haven’t been separate from the group.

“Everything we’ve done, we’ve done together. They’ve worked hard and for all of them it is about being prepared for when the opportunity comes.

“Fair to say the opportunity comes now for a few of them. It’s up to them now to take that opportunity, but they’ve been preparing themselves for that since the first day.”

BIG WEEKEND: Chelsea v Manchester City, Erik ten Hag, depleted Spurs, Arsenal’s striker