Tottenham brought in two new signings late in the transfer window but have been rocked by another new serious injury ahead of their trip to Liverpool.
Liverpool host Tottenham in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Thursday night knowing they must overturn a 1-0 deficit from the opener.
Arne Slot‘s side go into that clash with only one known injury, and early indications are that Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s layoff is not likely to be a long one.
Conversely, Tottenham could be without as many as nine players as they bid for Wembley, including new long-term absentee Radu Dragusin.
Dragusin was confirmed on Tuesday morning to have suffered an ACL injury which is expected to rule the centre-back out for the remainder of the campaign.
He joins fellow centre-back Cristian Romero (thigh) on the sidelines, with Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies both fit but only having recently returned from layoffs of their own.
Ange Postecoglou is also set to be without Dominic Solanke (knee), James Maddison (muscle), Timo Werner (thigh), Brennan Johnson (muscle), Wilson Odobert (thigh), Destiny Udogie (thigh) and Guglielmo Vicario (ankle).
While those injuries have left Tottenham light in both defence and attack in recent weeks, they did move to address that at the end of the transfer window.
Loan-to-buy deals were struck for Lens centre-back Kevin Danso and Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel, and both are expected to receive clearance to feature in the semi-final.
Tottenham were, however, frustrated in their efforts to sign another centre-back, with a £70 million bid for Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi rejected on deadline day.
They were also rejected by Fikayo Tomori and Axel Disasi despite agreeing terms with both AC Milan and Chelsea – the latter instead choosing to join Aston Villa on loan.
It means Danso could make his return to English football against Liverpool, having previously made 10 appearances on loan at Southampton in 2019/20.
Van de Ven is a likely starter alongside either Davies or Archie Gray at centre-back, though Postecoglou could immediately turn to Danso given his relative fitness.
Meanwhile, Tel should join Son Heung-min and Richarlison in attack with few other options beyond 17-year-old Mikey Moore and Dejan Kulusevski, who is instead required in midfield.
Liverpool arranged a scan for Alexander-Arnold’s upper-leg injury on Monday, with the results likely to be communicated to the media on Tuesday ahead of a full update from Arne Slot at 9am on Wednesday.
The right-back will almost certainly miss out against Tottenham with Conor Bradley poised to start.
Spurs announced the signing of academy centre-back Luca Furnell-Gill from Liverpool after the transfer deadline, but the 18-year-old will not come into contention for the cup decider.
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