Tottenham may have another match — the return leg against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League — to play first, but there could be as many as five players that could be available for Igor Tudor in next weekend’s relegation six-pointer against Nottingham Forest.
The Standard looked at Spurs’ injury list and also comments recently made by Tudor to put a timeline on the return of a number of players missing from Sunday’s draw at Liverpool. There’s the chance that five players could be back in time for Forest — Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Joao Palhinha, and Conor Gallagher.
Romero and Palhinha are perhaps the two freshest in the mind — both were out vs. Liverpool because they collided head-to-head in the waning moments of the Champions League first leg against Atleti at the Wanda. Both missed out due to concussion protocol but could be back in time for Forest, if not for the return leg tomorrow.
Gallagher is also on the verge of a return after missing the Liverpool match with a fever. If he’s feeling better tomorrow, he’ll probably play or be on the bench, but it sounds like he should be perfectly good to go for this weekend.
Destiny Udogie has been out since February with a hamstring injury, but Tudor said he “for sure” would be ready for Forest. That’s a huge boost to Spurs, who have been making do with Pedro Porro, Djed Spence, Souza, and occasionally Archie Gray at fullback. Udogie is a lock-down starter at left back, and his return will be pretty important for Spurs’ run-in.
Van de Ven’s return is much more straight forward — he was suspended one match, vs. Liverpool, for picking up a DOGSO red card against Crystal Palace, but he has completed his suspension and will almost certainly be playing — and starting — tomorrow vs. Atleti, and again this weekend against Forest.
The Standard also gave updates on a few of the players with more nebulous return dates — there’s no update on Yves Bissouma who missed the last match with a knock, but Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Mohammed Kudus are both targeting returns in April after the upcoming international break. Dejan Kulusevski is a big ol’ shruggie emoji, and both Wilson Odobert and James Maddison are not expected to play again until next season. Ben Davies, whose contract expires this summer, is hoping to be fit in time to play in the World Cup for Wales this summer.
It’s an extensive list, but five players back is pretty massive. Spurs were without 13 first team players against Liverpool and having even a handful of them returning is pretty important as Spurs target improvement and critical points in their Premier League run-in.