Tottenham return to Premier League action on Saturday afternoon as Roberto De Zerbi's side travel across London to take on Brentford
Roberto De Zerbi
Roberto De Zerbi has a number of stars racing to be fit(Image: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
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Tottenham's clash against Brentford could see up to 13 players miss out. Unfortunately for Roberto De Zerbi, the bulk of those come from the Tottenham dressing room as he continues to deal with a lengthy injury list.
Spurs get their season underway against Brentford on Saturday evening, looking to bounce back from finishing 17th in successive seasons. The Italian has overseen a busy summer of transfers in an attempt to overhaul the north London side's fortunes heading into the new season.
But player availability is set to ensure a difficult opening outing as the Lilywhites make the trip across London to face the Bees. On Friday, De Zerbi outlined the extent of his problems and definitively ruled out Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro from his backline.
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"No, Micky is not on the list for tomorrow, like Pedro Porro and the other players are all inside," De Zerbi said. "James Maddison is inside, Dominic Solanke is inside, Udogie is inside, Mateus Fernandes is inside.
"Pape Sarr, no, because he felt pain two days in his hamstring. Nothing important, but we don’t take risk with him and especially in this moment."
Dutch defender Van de Ven had been part of Spurs' training group but De Zerbi is determined not to take any risks. How that plays out for the likes of Maddison, Solanke, Udogie and Fernandes in their race to be available remains to be seen.
Speaking about Van de Ven, he said: "Today he worked with us, with the group and he is going very well. He suffered a problem during the pre-season of Australia, I don’t know if it was the flight, but not a big problem.
Micky van de Ven during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Round of 16 Second Leg match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and Atletico de Madrid.
Micky van de Ven has been ruled out of Tottenham's season opener vs Brentford. (Image: Julian Finney/Getty Images)
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"We have Senesi, we have Ben Davies and in the right condition to play the game tomorrow."
Long-term absentees Dejan Kulusevski, Wilson Odobert, Xavi Simons and Mohammed Kudus also remain out. "I think it's important also the management of the players, when the players have some problem, we have to stay calm, don't take risks," De Zerbi explained.
"We have Kulusevski, we have Odobert, we have Xavi Simons, injuries. Kudu is almost ready, that is a big point for us, but these three players are top players for us, and we're looking forward to watch them on the pitch."
Brentford's injury issues are more low key with Keith Andrews set to be without Antoni Milambo and Sepp van den Berg. The former is still recovering from an ACL injury but is in training.
"Antoni is a few weeks behind with the [ACL] injury," the Brentford boss said. "It’s not an exact science, naturally, but he’s had a really positive couple of weeks. He’s been training with the group for a number of weeks - sometimes modified, sometimes full training. He’s making really good strides."
Van den Berg has a groin issue. "We’ve had to manage that in a certain way," Andrews said.
"He needs a little bit more rest, unfortunately. He’s had a disjointed pre-season - it hasn’t flowed as well as we’d have liked - so we’re going to have to look after him in the short term. He’ll miss the first few weeks of the season."