We’re only a few days into the international break, and Tottenham Hotspur have already been dealt a bitter injury blow…
What’s the word?
Spurs left-back Ben Davies, valued at €20m (£18m), has been withdrawn from the Wales squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Belgium and the Czech Republic following a calf injury,
According to the ever-reliable Dan Kilpatrick at the Evening Standard, the 27-year-old is now set to miss the next two-to-three weeks, meaning he is unlikely to be available when the north Londoners return to Premier League action against Newcastle United on April 4th.
Wales caretaker Robert Page, usually an assistant to Ryan Giggs, described the injury as “significant” to reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
Is Ben Davies good enough for Spurs?
Yes, absolutely!
No, he’s not at all!
Mourinho’s reaction
Despite the arrival of Sergio Reguilon in the summer, Davies has still featured regularly for Jose Mourinho – his latest, a 33-minute cameo from the bench against Villa last weekend, in what was his 38th appearance of the season.
Indeed, the Welshman has played a little over 2.900 minutes in all competitions for Spurs this campaign, including a handful of Europa League matches as captain in the absence of both Hugo Lloris and Harry Kane.
So, to be without him on their return will be gutting for Mourinho, especially as his side got their quest for a top-six finish back on track with a win over their league rivals.
A result which somewhat eased the mounting pressure on the Spurs boss, following their defeat to arch-rivals Arsenal and their embarrassing exit from the Europa League last week.
In fact, the Portuguese has even already reacted to the news after the club’s official Instagram account posted an update on the situation. Mourinho wrote back: “When a player plays injured to help his team recover from two bad defeats, this can happen. a man, a team player” (as relayed by football.london).
Davies replaced Reguilon at Villa Park, with the Spaniard having to come off injured, just a few weeks after returning from the treatment table himself.
Reguilon had missed seven matches in all competitions during, arguably, Spurs’ worst run of form which saw them lose four of five league games, as per Transfermarkt.
So to potentially be without both would be devastating, and even if the former Madrid man is fit to feature, it’s still a risk for him to play too many games in quick succession given his recent problems.
AND in other news, Left for NOTHING, now contributing a goal every 65 minutes: Spurs will forever regret this exit…