Tottenham have been hit as hard as any team in the Premier League this season with injuries, but they came into Sunday’s match against Chelsea with optimism that their defensive woes may soon be behind them.
Although star goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario is still out until at least February with an ankle injury, Tottenham had a surprise in store for their fans with both Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven back together in the starting lineup at the same time for the first time in the Premier League since Oct. 27.
Romero had been out since the November international break after suffering an injury with Argentina, while Van de Ven had been out since late October with a more serious ailment.
Van de Ven was, therefore, a surprising inclusion in the starting lineup, though Romero was expected to start for Tottenham coming into the big match on Sunday afternoon against Chelsea.
However, just as Tottenham were happy about their fortunes changing with the injuries to their sturdy defense, Spurs suffered not one but two massive blows to both players.
First, Romero went down in just the 15th minute of the game with an injury, as he was forced off the pitch almost immediately with a groin injury, necessitating the introduction of third center back Radu Dragusin into the game.
And then later in the match with just around 10 minute left, Van de Ven himself had to be taken off with an injury, too, as Tottenham brought in young midfielder Archie Gray to replace him on the pitch.
Tottenham will have to hope that Romero and Van de Ven don’t miss several more weeks, because with both out again, Spurs have to start a clearly subpar tandem of Dragusin and veteran Ben Davies, which will surely lead to more dropped points.
After this 4-3 loss to Chelsea, Tottenham are staring down an even bigger deficit in their battle to reach the top four. They were fifth last season and close to the Champions League, but now in December of the 2024/25 season, Spurs were a mere 10th coming into Matchday 15.
Tottenham keep getting bit by the injury bug, and given the importance of Romero and Van de Ven – two of the best central defenders in the league – this latest injury blow to both in the same game could be huge.
Next up, Tottenham will face Rangers in the Europa League and have won just one of their last six games in all competitions, including particularly disappointing defeats to Galatasaray and Ipswich Town.
Joe Soriano