Roberto De Zerbi has provided an update on the fitness of Micky van de Ven and Rodrigo Bentancur following Tottenham Hotspur’s huge three points at Aston Villa on Sunday evening, while also raving over Conor Gallagher’s performance at Villa Park.
Spurs climbed out of the relegation places after recording back-to-back league wins for the first time since August, as they took advantage of West Ham’s slip-up at Brentford on Saturday.
The performance, albeit against a poor Villa side with one eye clearly on the second leg of their Europa League semi-final against Nottingham Forest, was arguably one of their best of the season – although that bar is pretty low.
De Zerbi is clearly now getting a tune out of players Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor clearly could not, although, as usual with Tottenham, the result did not come without some concerns.
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Having lost Xavi Simons and Dominic Solanke to injury at Wolves, there were more worries when Bentancur came off injured at Villa Park, while skipper Van de Ven was also spotted limping after rolling his ankle at the end of the match.
The key duo were outstanding in a critical victory, with Tottenham’s spine steadfast throughout, and De Zerbi’s update on their fitness post-match was at least encouraging ahead of next Monday’s home visit of Leeds United.
When asked if Van de Ven had suffered an ankle issue, the Spurs boss said (as per Football.London): “No, no, no. He’s ok.”
De Zerbi was also asked if Bentancur, who came off in the 67th minute, was okay, to which he replied: “Yes, yes, Bentancur was just tired.”
Assuming neither player suffers any lingering ill-effects, that’s massive news for Tottenham as they look for a win against Leeds that could take them one step closer to safety.
Conor Gallagher finally steps up for Tottenham
Another player who excelled at Villa Park was midfielder Gallagher, who had his best game in a Spurs shirt, while also notching his first goal for the club.
And, speaking after the contest, De Zerbi had high praise for the former Chelsea and Atletico Madrid star, telling reporters: “When Gallagher plays like this we play with 12 players because you can find him as a striker, as a midfielder, as a full-back, everywhere on the pitch you can find him.
“Great player, great passion, great qualities. Great player.”
Gallagher himself admitted it has been a “difficult few months” but that it was nice to finally show whey the club made their move for him in the January window.
The midfielder said: “It has been a difficult few months for me, for the whole club and this is what I do best, work hard off the ball.
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“I am a team player, I try and do what I do best and the fans were able to see that. I’ll keep doing that the best I can to make the club proud, to help Tottenham keep playing like that and get more wins.
“If I am being honest, normally when I scored when you score your first goal for the club there is a relief for yourself, but there was none of that, I was so focused on going again and continuing to play well, knowing how important the three points were.
“I am so happy and so proud.”