There are still a decent number of players that are out injured for Tottenham Hotspur — most notably Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert are on the long-term injury list as they recover from ACL injuries sustained last season. But two injured players will at least be on the bench as Spurs host Crystal Palace on Saturday. In an injury update given to the media, Spurs manager Roberto De Zerbi confirmed that left back Destiny Udogie and attacking midfielder James Maddison will both be available for selection.
“James is available. This week, Maddison didn’t work like other players, but for tomorrow he is available. He is a special player for us. He has unique characteristics.
“[Udogie] is available. That is another problematic player in terms of injuries.”
A quick note — English is, famously, not De Zerbi’s first language and sometimes nuances can be lost when he speaks in his second? third? language. I don’t feel like I really need to say this but just in case it’s pretty clear that the “problematic” aspect of Udogie is his propensity to pick up injuries, not the player himself. Udogie isn’t problematic, but his injury history sure is!
That does mean, however, that there are injured players (non-Odobert/Simons edition) that will not feature, and De Zerbi also confirmed that Tosin Adarabioyo, Lucas Bergvall, Mykhailo Mudryk and Savio will also miss Saturday’s match.
“Still out [are] Tosin, [Lucas] Bergvall, [Mykhailo] Mudryk. Savio is injured. Everyone else is available.”
I’m not sure if we can count on either Maddison nor Udogie to be starters this weekend, but we’ve been surprised before — and obviously we won’t know until the lineups are revealed before the match on Saturday. But considering Spurs’ strong showing against Chelsea last weekend, I would feel confident about Tottenham’s ability to put in a cromulent performance against Palace.
