Spurs have been struck quite hard by the injury bug lately. Lewis Holtby, Jermain Defoe, Andros Townsend, Sandro, Jan Vertonghen, Younes Kaboul and Kyle Naughton have all been injured of late. The silver-lining to that particular cloud is that many have just recently started training once again, which will be music to the ears of new manager Tim Sherwood.
These injuries have hit Tottenham during a hectic period of games and the damage to their season may yet prove to be lasting. Many of these players are vital cogs of the first team with the pace and attacking intent of Townsend being sorely missed on the flanks, whilst the calm, collected defending of Vertonghen has been a huge loss too. Sandro was another player that Tottenham definitely missed in their disappointing 2-0 defeat away to Arsenal in the FA cup, not to mention during the other matches which he was forced to sit out. Spurs needed the strength of a hard-working tackler in the midfield, especially in the 4-4-2 formation employed by Sherwood since being handed the reigns by Daniel Levy. Arsenal’s midfield outnumbered Spurs and this was their downfall in the first half. Not until the second half did Spurs switch to a 4-5-1 formation to counter Arsenal but to no avail.
However, with all the injuries, Spurs still sit favourably in the Premier League. Two points separate them from fourth place, which means they are still very much in touch of reaching those all-important Champions League qualification spots. They also have the Europa league to play for, facing Dnipro of Ukraine in the knockout stages. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that Tottenham have been knocked out of both domestic cups seeing as it allows less opportunity for further injuries to occur!
Thankfully the injury list does seem to be thinning, with four players back in training. Holtby will be able to provide his great energy and passion along with his creativity once more. Defoe will finally provide a first team striker option on the bench after Spurs had a few games where there were no proper centre forwards fit enough to take their place on the bench. Sandro will no doubt get back into the first team again, although he may be initially benched to allow a full and proper recovery. Townsend will likely be broken back in as a sub for Lennon in order to slowly get back into the swing of bursting down that wing again, with the added incentive of impressing Roy Hodgson and making a place on the plane bound for Brazil in the summer his own, especially in the absence of a certain Arsenal player.
The sooner that Tottenham have their complete squad, the better. Spurs are within touching distance of securing a Champions League place and to finally secure it after many years of not achieving it would be a fantastic achievement for Tim Sherwood in his first year as Head Coach. It goes without saying however that there is a lot of football to be played before we reach that stage of proceedings and there are sure to be many more twists and turns along the way. For Spurs sake, let’s hope that they can steer clear of any more encounters with the injury bug.
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