Tottenham Hotspur fans held their collective breaths this weekend after news had emerged that midfielder Pape Matar Sarr was withdrawn due to injury minutes into the second half of Senegal’s 2-0 international friendly loss to Brazil on November 15. Sarr reportedly took a heavy hit and then walked off the pitch in some discomfort, leading to speculation that he could be set for a period on the sidelines. Considering Spurs are already without Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall withdrew from Sweden’s squad due to complications from his recent concussion, and the continued absence of Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Yves Bissouma, and Mohammed Kudus, you’d be forgiven if fans were ready to throw up their hands and find some other sport to pay attention to for a while.
The good news, however, is that Sarr seems to be okay. Senegal manager Pape Thiaw gave a brief update, as reported by Football.London, that suggested that Sarr’s knock is just that — a knock, and that he was withdrawn out of an abundance of caution.
The same probably can’t be said for the OTHER player injured in that Brazil-Senegal friendly. Arsenal defender Gabriel was also subbed out with an adductor injury, and it looks like he could be out for a longer spell. Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti acknowledged the injury, but implied the severity of it might not be known for a while yet.
“Bad? I don’t know, he had a problem with his adductor, the medical staff have to check tomorrow. We are really sorry for this, really disappointed. When players have an injury, I hope they can recover well and soon.”
The BBC confirms that Gabriel will miss Brazil’s friendly against Tunisia later this week, which puts him firmly in the “questionable” category for this weekend’s North London Derby at the Emirates Stadium. Also on Arsenal’s injury list: Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Fernando de Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Victor Gyokeres, and Noni Madueke. By my count that’s seven injured players, significantly fewer than the 13 players currently out for Spurs, so don’t let the Gooners in your life give you any crap.
The North London Derby is this Sunday, with kick-off at 11:30 a.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. GMT.