Tottenham Hotspur will be looking to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they welcome Manchester United to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Tottenham Hotspur return to Premier League action this weekend when they take on Manchester United at home. After a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea last weekend, Spurs returned to winning ways with a 4-0 thrashing of Copenhagen in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
United, on the other hand, are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games following a 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon. Ruben Amorim’s side are currently eighth in the table.
However, the two sides have very contrasting injury lists. United have a clean bill of health heading into Saturday's game; the same cannot be said about Spurs.
Dominic Solanke, James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Ben Davies, Radu Dragusin, Kota Takai and Archie Gray are all unavailable. While Lucas Bergvall is also a doubt after sustaining concussion against Chelsea.
According to The FA's guidelines, after an initial 24 to 48 hour period of 'relative rest', Bergvall will be allowed to undergo a graduated return to full daily activity. The 19-year-old midfielder will be allowed to train, but 'at a rate that does not worsen existing symptoms'.
The FA have a 'Graduated return to play' (GRTP) programme, which could keep Bergvall out of action for a minimum of 21 days. The sporting body also have an 'Enhanced care pathway' for players over the age of 18, which permits RTP after 12 days – or after seven days so long as exceptional criteria is met.
However, there is better news for Spurs, as Mohamed Kudus, who missed out on Tuesday due to a knock, could be available for this weekend's game. Although it has been claimed that Tottenham boss Thomas Frank could face a nervous wait on the attacker's fitness.
While for United, Lisandro Martinez returned to full training last week, but it remains to be seen if he will be included in his side’s matchday on Saturday.
Speaking on Thursday, Amorim confirmed he has no new fresh injury concerns. He said: "No, there’s no change [to what we are doing about injuries].
"It’s one game every week and then a little bit of luck, because sometimes you have problems with players with knocks, it’s not something that is soft tissues.
"So you never know what is going to happen in the next training. If you play with intensity in training, something can happen, but I think the big reason… of course, we try to do everything well, the big reason is [we have only] one game every week.
"You can give one extra day to the players that you know could struggle in the next training. I think that is the biggest reason."