On Sunday afternoon, not only did we see Tottenham Hotspur give more ammo to the “Spursy” tag, by losing at home to London rivals Chelsea, despite going 2-0 up within the opening quarter of an hour - but we saw three key players go off injured during the game. Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, and Brennan Johnson were all forced off during the game, to rub salt in the wounds on a miserable afternoon.
It felt like both Romero and van de Ven had been forced back for the game. Some fans perhaps expected one to start, at best, but definitely not both. We saw the former last just 15 minutes of the game before being replaced by Radu Dragusin, whilst the latter was replaced by Archie Gray with around ten minutes of the game to go.
These injuries made it a real central defence pandemic this week, with Ben Davies picking up an injury during the defeat at AFC Bournemouth in midweek. Considering his lack of experience at centre back in a back four, the Wales captain had actually filled in pretty admirably.
As for his compatriot, Johnson had to be withdrawn just eight minutes into the second half, as he was replaced by Timo Werner. Ange had said he didn’t feel right at half time, and that they had tried to give it a go.
Today, there has been an update. The club have sent Romero for scans on a quad injury, and are currently awaiting the results. As for van de Ven and Johnson, Spurs “hope” they will be fine, despite coming off against Chelsea.
Pretty hard to know what to think from that. Any club would hope to have two key players back, but it feels more like a case of “you’d like to think so”, rather than “you’d hope so”, although perhaps that is clutching at straws.
Realistically, even if van de Ven’s injury is not too bad, Ange must wait until he is 100%. You can understand why he rushed him back against Chelsea, given the alternatives, particularly with Davies out – but you have to be careful. Look at it like this; would you rather lose van de Ven for another two games – or another two months?
The same applies to Johnson too, he shouldn't be rushed back and given a risk of aggravating an injury either, but with the Dutch defenders injury history, it particularly feels paramount with him.
The issue that Spurs now have, is due to the late collapse against Roma, the game against Rangers on Thursday night has become a must win. You would not have thought that would be the case after three wins from three, but one point from the following two games has made that the reality. It will be interesting to see how he lines up for that one.