Ange Postecoglou is hopeful that Ben Davies will make an early return from injury as Tottenham await the latest prognosis on Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero.
Spurs’ poor form of late has come against the backdrop of an ongoing defensive injury crisis that has left the club significantly weakened at the back.
First-choice central defenders Romero and Van de Ven made their respective returns against Chelsea last weekend, only to both be forced off with fresh issues.
Ben Davies was already sidelined after suffering a hamstring injury in the preceding defeat by Bournemouth, leaving Postecoglou to select 18-year-old midfielder Archie Gray to partner Radu Dragusin at centre-back for Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Rangers in the Europa League.
While that makeshift partnership looks set to continue away at struggling Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday night, Tottenham are at least hopeful that the experienced and versatile Davies will be back much sooner than expected this month.
“Ben, that was a week ago and it’s not as bad as we thought,” Postecoglou said of the Welsh international on Friday. “There is a chance he’ll be back, hopefully, before the New Year. So, that was positive.
“Again, initially we were a bit worried but you need to give it a week to settle down. The latest information I got this morning is that it’s nowhere near as bad as we thought it was and hopefully a quicker turnaround.”
Asked if he had any further update on Van de Ven and Romero, Postecoglou suggested that Spurs would likely find out more on their latest issues next week.
Guglielmo Vicario, Wilson Odobert and Richarlison are also out injured for Tottenham at the moment, while Yves Bissouma has joined fellow midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur in being suspended for the match against Southampton at St Mary’s.
Postecoglou said: “Obviously guys get injured and without getting too technical, you need to let the injury settle down before you get a real prognosis so it will probably be next week some time with Micky and Cristian. Everyone got through last night, so they are all good to go. Biss is suspended this weekend, so he’ll miss out.”
Postecoglou defended Tottenham’s decision not to sign more centre-backs last summer given their current injury nightmare, while he also declined to discuss whether the club might yet choose to activate their option to recall Ashley Phillips from his loan spell at Championship side Stoke in January.
“Ah, mate we will look at all the January contingencies,” he said. “That is all happening in the background, but it will not help us for the next five games.
“That is where my focus is right now. [Technical director] Johan [Lange], we’ve had our chats and he knows a lot of it will be state of play with where we’re at come the New Year.”
