Tottenham have been dealt a fresh injury blow ahead of the Carabao Cup clash with Newcastle United on Wednesday
Tottenham star Archie Gray is set for a spell on the sidelines, becoming the 10th first-team player out injured for manager Thomas Frank. The former Leeds midfielder, 19, was in contention to start in Wednesday night's Carabao Cup clash with Newcastle at St James' Park.
However, it's understood that the versatile youngster has picked up an injury in training and will play no part in the match. There has been no official confirmation on the severity of the issue, although reports have suggested that the highly-regarded star could be out for around a month after injuring his calf.
This is a significant setback for Gray, who could have started in his preferred midfield role on Wednesday night. He was used in defence under Ange Postecoglou last season and Frank has relied on his versatility too.
The setback means Frank is now down to 10 first-team players. Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie, Ben Davies, Radu Dragusin, Kota Takai, Yves Bissouma, Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Dominic Solanke are all currently unavailable for Spurs, reports Football London.
Meanwhile, Frank wants Tottenham to go all the way in the Carabao Cup this season, but questioned why the semi-finals were still two-legged.
Spurs travel to holders Newcastle in the fourth round on Wednesday, eager to stay on track for more silverware after they ended a 17-year drought with Europa League success in May under Frank's predecessor Postecoglou.
Tottenham's hectic schedule, with 60 matches in the 2024-25 campaign and a midweek trip to St James' Park marking their 15th game this season, has led Frank to propose a shake-up of a domestic competition often scrutinised amidst an ever-expanding football calendar.
Frank suggested: "By the way, one thing I've been thinking about is that there should only be one semi-final,".
He explained his reasoning: "I think two reasons. For the smaller clubs, if you want to beat a bigger club, it's much much easier to play only one game, so we really want someone to break out and it's not the same boring same teams winning – of course except from Spurs!".
He continued: "Then we need to skip one semi-final for everyone else that plays so many games. It should only be one."
On the financial implications, he said: "If it's about money, then someone needs to fix it. If it's Premier League paying money to EFL (English Football League), because as far as I understand it, it's because of that. So someone has to fix it. It should be very, very easy."