Tottenham defender out until the New Year with hamstring injury.
Although many of their most important players are now back available, there was some bad news on the injury front for Tottenham Hotspur today as defender Toby Alderweireld was ruled out until the New Year with a hamstring problem.
As reported by Sky Sports, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino confirmed the disappointing news about Alderweireld at his press conference.
Alderweireld has endured much misfortune with injuries in recent seasons and Tottenham will certainly miss his experience and calmness at the back but do Pochettino’s side possess sufficient resources to cope without the Belgian?
It seems that Pochettino will continue to frequently deploy a back three, even with Alderweireld unavailable. Davinson Sanchez, who has impressed since joining from Ajax in the summer, and Jan Vertonghen will certainly be regular starters when fit, with the other centre-back berth likely to occupied by Eric Dier.
That trio is certainly resilient as a collective and should be effective enough even in high profile fixtures, such as Saturday’s North London derby away to Arsenal.
Beyond that, however, there is a worrying lack of depth, with 19-year-old Juan Foyth, although very talented, still finding his feet after joining the club in the summer.
Ben Davies can fill in on the left side of a back three but isn’t ideally suited to playing there, so Pochettino will have to hope that his side don’t suffer any further injury setbacks in defence.
Pochettino has the option of switching to a back four and deploying Sanchez alongside Vertonghen but that would see Tottenham abandon the three at the back system that has worked so effectively for them of late.
Alderweireld’s absence, then, could end up being very problematic for Tottenham, especially during the hectic festive period and if any of the club’s other centre-backs suffer injuries.
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