Muhammad Awwal AbubakarTottenham Hotspur are closely monitoring the fitness of Cristian Romero and Richarlison after both players were forced off due to injuries during Sunday’s commanding 4-1 victory over Aston Villa.
Romero, who had already been substituted in the previous match, was replaced once again after seemingly sustaining an injury while challenging Villa’s Morgan Rogers midway through the second half.
Richarlison, introduced as a substitute in the second period, appeared to pull up with an issue after assisting Dominic Solanke with Spurs’ fourth goal of the afternoon.
The Brazilian forward appeared to clutch the back of his leg while celebrating the goal, before receiving immediate treatment.
Both players underwent assessments at Hotspur Way earlier this week, with the club preparing for Thursday’s Europa League encounter in Istanbul against Galatasaray, followed by a home fixture against Ipswich Town ahead of the international break.
The club is already without Micky van de Ven, who is sidelined with a hamstring strain, and should Romero join him in the treatment room, Tottenham will be left with just two recognised centre-backs in Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies.
Head coach Ange Postecoglou has also suggested that young defender Archie Gray could be called upon to fill in at centre-back if needed.
The potential for another injury setback for Richarlison would prove particularly frustrating, both for the player and the club, given the extended care taken during his rehabilitation from a groin strain that kept him sidelined since August. Postecoglou recently spoke about the club’s approach to Richarlison’s recovery, noting:
“We’ve taken our time with him but it hasn’t been just about him recuperating and recovering from the injury. We’ve tried to use it to build his fitness base up so when he comes back and to be fair to him, he’s worked awfully hard.
“He has trimmed down, he looks really lean now and has worked really hard. We’ve tried to use it almost as a pre-season for him on an individual basis to not just get him to recover from his injury because he probably recovered from his injury a couple of weeks ago, but we’ve used the last couple of weeks to get his fitness base up and him into good physical condition so we don’t have to keep going through this cycle of him coming back and breaking down.
“Like I said, to be fair to him he’s worked really hard and he’s looked really good. He’s had a good week of training and he has missed playing. He is a real infectious guy as well so good to have him back with the group.”
Muhammad Awwal Abubakar
