Tottenham Hotspur could be without injured left-back Destiny Udogie for up to six weeks, coach Ange Postecoglou has revealed.
The Italian was substituted in the early stages of Spurs’ 2-2 draw with Wolves last weekend, adding to a badly weakened defense that has been missing Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies in recent weeks.
Udogie was replaced by Sergio Reguilon, who was made available for transfer in the summer and is now expected to spend an extended period on the sidelines.
“No, unfortunately not,” Postecoglou told reporters when asked if any of his injured players would play again against Newcastle United on Saturday.
“So obviously there’s Destiny with that hamstring, it looks like he’s going to miss the six-week mark, obviously we’re losing.” [Rodrigo] Bentancur blocked, none of the injured have returned yet. We also had a bit of an illness in the team so we missed a few training sessions, but that’s okay, we’ll manage.
“Rich [Richarlison] and Mikey [Moore] will be the next two, hopefully sometime next week, and then Ben [Davies]Micky van de Van and Romero all around the same time, so they are all expected to return at the end of January.
Spurs’ miserable run of injuries was matched by a string of sub-par performances, leaving the Europa League contenders in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
They have taken just four points from the last 18 available – losing four of their last six games – but still boast the division’s second-strongest attack: 41 goals have been scored by Postecoglou’s side, behind only league leaders Liverpool.