Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has revealed they are likely to be without Micky van de Ven and James Maddison until January.
Dutch defender Van de Ven and England star Maddison both suffered injuries in Monday’s 4-1 loss at home to London rivals Chelsea.
Spurs also had Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie sent off in what was their first loss of the season, which means the North London side will be missing some key players for Saturday’s trip to Wolves. That all came after forward Richarlison underwent surgery on an issue with his pelvis.
“Fair to say a fair bit happened after Monday,” Postecoglou said. “Micky [Van de Ven] obviously with that hamstring injury, we knew it was fairly significant, probably a couple of months for him looking into the new year.
“[Maddison] 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.”
Postecoglou described Monday's setback against Chelsea as an “unusual” game given the red cards, injuries and endless VAR interventions.
He argued the stop-start nature of the game may have been a factor with the injuries.
“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," he said.
“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.”
Postecoglou has drawn both praise and criticism for his decision to persist with a high defensive line against Chelsea in spite of them being down to 10 and then nine men.
Asked if he had considered a more defensive strategy, the Australian said: “Yeah, there is always the temptation but apart from chocolate I am pretty good at not giving into temptation.
“All the absences have an effect on the team. I guess the unusual one for us, not many times in my career when you have such a disruption for one game.
“We’ve lost four or five starters in one game, three of our back four. That’s where we get affected more than anything else.
“If it was just Micky, you’d miss him because of the qualities he has. It wouldn’t disrupt us as much, but we’ve got to bring in three different players in a back four and that’s the big challenge.”
Tottenham v Chelsea - player ratings
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TOTTENHAM RATINGS: Made a brilliant save to deny Jackson and was unlucky to be beaten after palming Palmer’s penalty onto the post. Rushed out superbly on a few occasions to reach dangerous balls through, then did superbly to stop Cucurella but was left helpless by Jackson as he scored a hat-trick. PA -
Played some wayward passes early on, including a shocker that resulted in Jackson’s early chance, but defended tirelessly and delivered some brilliant late free-kicks that caused havoc in Chelsea’s box. EPA -
Fortunate not to be sent off for kicking out at Colwill but the Argentine’s luck ran out when his reckless challenge on Argentina teammate Fernandez resulted in a penalty and a red card. AP -
Had looked confident in possession and in his defensive work before pulling up with a hamstring injury while chasing a ball behind shortly before half time. Getty Images -
Looked comfortable in the early stages but had some wild moments, including a poor challenge on Sterling 18 minutes in that sparked Chelsea into life and the challenge that earned him a second yellow in the 55th minute. Getty Images -
Showed a great passing range and was willing to show his combative side when required, putting in plenty of good defensive work for his team. Reuters -
Played a well-weighted pass-through for Kulusevski to score the opener but wasn’t as incisive when Son was running through in the second half. Booked for his coming together with Colwill. EPA -
Hit the strike that went in off Colwill for the opening goal and put in some good work off the ball, notably dispossessing Fernandez for a Spurs burst forward. AP -
Played a superb pass to start the move for the opener and had some more nice moments on the ball before being forced off through injury in the first half. AP -
Can consider himself unlucky, having seen Son’s goal from his perfectly weighted pass ruled out for a marginal offside before then being substituted following Romero’s red card. EPA -
Had a clinically taken goal ruled out after straying offside by the finest of margins. Wasn’t offered much service after his side saw red but was a willing worker for the team and was unlucky to see his shot saved late on. Reuters -
SUBS:(Johnson, 34’) Came on for his first minutes of the season following Romero’s red card and made an outstanding intervention to cut out Sterling’s ball for Jackson. Thought he had scored the equaliser but had strayed marginally offside, then gave himself no chance of stopping Jackson with a high line late on. EPA -
(Van de Ven, 45+1’) Showed great awareness for most of the game despite playing in an unnatural centre-back position, superbly cutting out James’ low cross and heading Sterling’s attempt clear. However, Sterling ran off him in the build-up to the goal. AP -
(Maddison, 45+1’) Made a heroic intervention to touch Jackson’s header over the crossbar then did well to halt Sterling’s run. Hit a shockingly wasteful shot from a free-kick. AP -
(Kulusevski, 61’) Lightning quick to stop Jackson getting his shot off following Vicario’s brilliant save to deny Cucurella. AFP -
(Sarr, 61’) Got the flick on for Dier’s disallowed goal but couldn’t quite get enough on another Porro free-kick to get it on target. Getty Images -
CHELSEA PLAYER RATINGS: Had no chance of stopping Kulusevski’s shot due to the deflection off Colwill but dealt with Porro’s strike well. Some of his passing was poor but he did well to save Son’s late attempt. Reuters -
Looked lost in the early stages but grew into the game and showed an attacking threat, playing a ball through for Jackson. Hit a venomous shot narrowly wide and played the pass through that resulted in Chelsea’s second. PA -
Just about stayed high enough for Son to be caught offside but didn’t react quickly enough to reach Gallagher’s header in the opposite box. EPA -
Struggled to keep up with play at times in the first half but did well to halt Maddison’s run and dealt with balls to Son well in the second half. Stepped in decisively to clear a loose ball in the box late on. Reuters -
The defender’s half-hearted attempt to block Kulusevski’s shot resulted in him deflecting it into his own net. Completely lost his head and was booked for a coming together with Sarr before being taken off at half time. Reuters -
Battled in the middle well at times and picked out some nice passes. Had a brilliant goal ruled out because Jackson was marginally offside, although he wasn’t worried for too long as the penalty was awarded in the same passage of play. EPA -
Hit a shot harmlessly off target but was the man on the receiving end of Romero’s tackle for the penalty. Was caught on the ball by Kulusevski in a dangerous area. EPA -
Provided a composed presence while many of his teammates looked panicked in the early stages, which was shown when he scored Chelsea’s equaliser from the penalty spot. He also held up the play to help create the space that was exploited for Chelsea’s second and slipped a brilliant ball through for the final goal. Getty Images -
Very busy throughout and embraced the chaos in the first half, although he was unlucky that Disasi didn’t reach his headed knockdown. Did well to put Jackson’s second goal on a plate for the striker. Getty Images -
Guilty of running behind too early at times and saw a goal ruled out after the ball hit his hand, although many of his runs behind created problems. Played a terrible pass but then reached the ball ahead of Udogie and then teed up Jackson for Chelsea’s second. AP -
Caught agonisingly offside for Caicedo’s disallowed goal, saw some attempts saved by Vicario and got booked for pulling back Sarr. None of that will matter to the striker, who scored with two cool finishes to earn his team the win, then rounded Vicario to secure his hat-trick. Getty Images -
SUBS: (Colwill, 46') Slotted in seamlessly despite the madness and made a superb run behind but was halted by Vicario. AFP -
(Fernandez, 58’) Coming into such a passionate match, he looked timid at first and was booked for a late challenge on Vicario. Made a good run behind to tee up a chance for Jackson. AFP -
(James, 77’) Gave away a needless free-kick in a dangerous area to put his team under pressure and saw yellow for it. Aside from that, he did a lot of the simple things well and made a good clearance. AP -
(Sterling, 91’) He conceded the ball cheaply for Son’s late chance and was booked for a foul on Bissouma. EPA
