Igor Tudor finally looks set to welcome back a couple of first-team players to his Tottenham squad.
Spurs were without 11 senior outfield players for Sunday’s disappointing 4-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso are now back involved at Tottenham‘s training base and may be ready to return to action against Fulham on Sunday.
Tudor needs all the help he can get right now on the basis of the heavy home loss to Arsenal, which many will hope is the nadir of the campaign.
Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso back in Tottenham training
Porro has missed Tottenham’s past five matches without a hamstring problem, while Danso has not been involved in four matches.
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As pointed out by James Green live on Sky Sports News on Wednesday, that is “good news” for Spurs fans – and indeed Tudor.
It means nine first-team players are still absent, the most notable arguably being James Maddison as he continues to recover from a season-long problem.
Porro’s return in particular will be welcomed by Tudor, with the Spain international having started 21 times in the Premier League this term.
Among Tottenham players, only Guglielmo Vicario (27) and Micky van de Ven (25) have started on more occasions in the top flight.
He has completed 74 per cent of his passes and has chipped in with a couple of assists.
Porro’s 1.1 dribbles per game, meanwhile, are bettered only by Conor Gallagher (1.3) among those to have started at least one game.
Could Danso return alter Tudor’s plans vs Fulham?
Danso has eight starts to his name in the league this season, albeit the most recent coming a month ago in the 2-2 draw at Burnley.
That game with Burnley saw the defender produce a terrible display, as he failed to win any of the two tackles he attempted and lost possession 13 times.
But it may be that the Austria international, who averages a Sofascore rating of 6.88 – so below average – is brought back into defence this weekend.
That may even force a reshuffle, as it has emerged Tottenham have won just one of their last 10 league games when playing three at the back (three draws and six losses) and none of their last six (two draws and four losses).
That is simply not good enough and it is a large enough sample to suggest something must be done.
If nothing else, Porro and Danso’s returns give Tudor something to smile about in what has been a tough week.