Micky van de Ven has handed Ange Postecoglou a huge boost by returning to the Tottenham starting XI for Sunday's London derby against Chelsea. Not featuring for Spurs since limping off with a hamstring strain in the Carabao Cup victory over Manchester City at the end of October, the north London club have also had to do without Cristian Romero recently.
However, both have been included in the Tottenham team to take on Chelsea as they look to bounce back from Thursday's disappointing defeat at Bournemouth. Already short at centre-back due to the duo's respective injuries, Ben Davies became the latest player to join a very busy treatment room after picking up a hamstring issue on the hour mark at the Vitality Stadium.
That raised big question marks over who exactly would play at the heart of defence against Chelsea with Radu Dragusin the only fully-fit centre-back at the head coach's disposal. In Tottenham's hour of need, Romero and Van de Ven have returned to fitness and that has resulted in Dragusin dropping down to the bench.
Van de Ven was initially expected to return to the team in the middle of December, with Postecoglou revealing that he was pencilled in for next Thursday's Europa League tie away at Rangers before proving his fitness on the training pitch in the lead up to the Chelsea match.
"It's a welcome boost for us," explained Postecoglou in his pre-match interview with Sky Sports. "Romero was close. Micky we kind of thought probably next Thursday but he's trained really well.
"Both were really keen to play and obviously with us losing Ben in midweek it's a good opportunity for them to get out there. Obviously a boost because they're important players for us."
Romero and Van de Ven aren't the only two players to come into the Tottenham XI following the defeat at Bournemouth as Pedro Porro and Son Heung-min have also returned. Dragusin, Archie Gray and James Maddison have dropped down to the bench, with Davies missing out on the squad altogether because of injury.