There’s not a whole lot to be excited about if you’re a Tottenham Hotspur fan right now, but here’s a small bit of sunshine amidst all the storm clouds: Igor Tudor has two injured defensive players back in training. Tudor mentioned that he expected to have two injured Spurs players back this week after missing the North London Derby, and Football.London’s Alasdair Gold confirmed that both Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso were back in training today ahead of Spurs’ trip to Craven Cottage to play Fulham on Sunday.
That’s pretty huge, if both of them are available. Tudor was forced by circumstance and injury to play a back line that included Archie Gray at right back and Joao Palhinha in central defense, and it was summarily dismantled by the Gunners in Sunday’s 4-1 loss. It’s a small thing but having a back three that includes Danso, Micky van de Ven, and Radu Dragusin is superior to putting a defensive midfielder in the back line, just my opinion! (And before anyone makes jokes in the comments, yes, Radu Dragusin is a better central defender than Joao Palhinha, come on)
Look, we’re under no illusions here. Relegation is a tangible (if unlikely) threat this season and Spurs will need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps to get enough points to ensure safety. But safety IS in their hands, and having players back from injury will only help. Having Porro and Danso back in training — especially Danso, whom initial reports on his toe injury suggested a much lengthier period on the sidelines — is huge.