Tottenham Hotspur look set to welcome some big names back to the Premier League matchday squad at the weekend
07:00, 20 Mar 2026
Igor Tudor Head coach of Tottenham Hotspur during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Round of 16 Second Leg match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Atletico de Madrid at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on March 18, 2026 in London, England
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Igor Tudor has a few tricks up his sleeve(Image: Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Igor Tudor has already been given a huge boost ahead of Tottenham Hotspur's clash against Nottingham Forest this weekend. The Lilywhites will host Vítor Pereira's side on Sunday afternoon as they each look to climb the Premier League table.
Spurs will hope to pick up from where they left off on Wednesday night when they defeated Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League last-16. Despite losing 7-5 on aggregate, the north Londoners showed great promise and determination during their 3-2 win over Diego Simeone's side.
Meanwhile, Forest will look to return to winning ways, having failed to taste victory in any of their last seven games in the English top-flight. Just a point separates Tottenham and the East Midlands outfit, who are both on the brink of the relegation zone.
If West Ham beat Aston Villa and Spurs lose to Forest, Tudor's side will fall into the bottom three. Although Tottenham haven't had as long to prepare for this weekend's clash, they're set to welcome some big names back to the Premier League stage.
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On Wednesday evening, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Lucas Bergvall and Conor Gallagher, who were all absent from the matchday squad at Anfield, returned to action. They each featured in some capacity during the win over Atletico, brushing off the cobwebs ahead of a huge fixture.
That said, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Speaking to reporters after the game, Tudor commented on Spurs' injury crisis. The interim Tottenham boss said: "Even I need to repeat that today we have again 11 players and on the bench just one player.
Igor Tudor during the Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid
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Igor Tudor during the Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid
"One player is [Kevin] Danso. All three players - Bergvall, Udogie and Conor - doctors say they can play at least maximum 20 minutes, 25 minutes. So, you have only Danso as a substitute.
"You play with 11 plus Danso in this kind of a game, and I don't count these two young players. So imagine the situation, imagine the value of this victory here.
"You need to make a proclamation of substitutes, what happens if someone is out, how we can deal with Bergvall and Conor. So, it's a really particular moment, but you know how it is here in Tottenham, better than me with this kind of injuries.
Archie Gray was superb in Tottenham's Champions League round of 16 second leg match against Atletico Madrid
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Archie Gray was superb in Tottenham's Champions League round of 16 second leg match against Atletico Madrid
"The value of this performance is even bigger because of these things."
When asked about the connection between players and fans, Igor said: "Yes, a beautiful sensation on the pitch. I really enjoyed it from the first to the last moment of the game. It was magical.
"The guys pushed from the first moment. They believed that we could do it, so that was the key. After 1-0, the idea was, as I said before, to just take 1-0 and see what happened. Then the referee didn't give the foul on Xavi (before Alvarez’s first equaliser). It was a key moment of the game.
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"That’s football, it's always about that. It's about details, about mistakes. So, the sensation that if it didn't happen, what happened after 20 minutes in Madrid, we could have a big probability to pass. But this is the past - we need to watch the future."
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