Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur: Thomas Frank has provided an update on three of his injured players ahead of their clash with Newcastle United.
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Thomas Frank has revealed that Destiny Udogie, Dominic Solanke and Cristian Romero are all making progress towards returning to action, but all three are still expected to miss the clash with Newcastle United on Wednesday night through injury.
Spurs travel to the north east sat third in the Premier League table aiming to dump out the reigning holders of the competition at the last-16 stage. However, Frank is likely to be without seven first-team players for that game with Romero, Solanke and Udogie among those that are not expected to feature.
Asked for an update on his selection options following their win over Everton on Sunday, Frank responded: “All good from the guys that played yesterday. Dom [Solanke] stepped forward, step by step. Cuti [Romero] on the pitch today, not a timeframe. Destiny [Udogie] on the pitch as well today. Three steps forward.”
Tottenham Hotspur’s key to victory v Newcastle United
Spurs’ win over Everton on Sunday ensured they became the first visiting team to take three points away from the Hill Dickinson Stadium - extending their unbeaten domestic record on the road in the process. That record will be tested at St James’ Park on Wednesday night against a Newcastle United side that have won three successive matches on home turf.
On Spurs’ record away from home this season, Frank added: “Sometimes it's a relatively small sample. Hopefully at the end of the year it's fantastic away and home.
“It's a team that's still finding each other, the way we're building we have 14 games with one bad performance against Bournemouth, second half against Wolves and second half against Monaco. In general we're building.”
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Tottenham’s first two goals on Merseyside on Sunday came from corner kicks as Spurs continued a growing trend of Premier League sides scoring from set-pieces. Frank’s Brentford side were renowned for their set-piece routines and successes and that is something he has brought with him to the north London club.
Frank, however, was keen to share the credit for their dead ball successes with his set-piece coach Andreas Georgson: “Andreas is doing a top job,” Frank said.
“The players are really committed to it. We need to be good in every aspects of the game but set pieces have created a third of all goals. So not to spend time on it, be super-focused on details, then defending and attacking those is a major strength.
“I haven't seen every game in every league. My feeling is that there are more long throws in general - that's a clear example - every manager wants to compete and it's about finding the small margins. The top clubs are raising the bar so that's probably the reason.
“You need to be good in all phases. In the first half yesterday we were very good playing out from the back and you need to be good in the middle of the pitch. A big part of it is being good at set pieces.”
Spurs’ clash with Newcastle United kicks-off at 8pm on Wednesday night. The game will be available to watch on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom.