Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi has shared an update on the fitness of his squad ahead of their Carabao Cup clash against Liverpool at Anfield on Tuesday night.
Despite all of the pre-season optimism, it has been an underwhelming start to the campaign for Tottenham and De Zerbi, who are without a win in the Premier League, while they are still yet to score a top-flight goal this term.
Spurs played out a goalless draw with Everton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday evening as their struggles in front of goal continued, while their manager still doesn't have a fully-fit squad to choose from.
The north London outfit will hope that the EFL Cup continues to be a positive distraction after they put five goals past Charlton Athletic in the previous round, with the chance to progress to the round of 16 should they overcome Andoni Iraola's Reds on Merseyside.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Monday afternoon, De Zerbi confirmed that the club has suffered a new injury blow following the Everton draw, with £100m summer signing Sandro Tonali missing the trip north.
Yes, there is not Sandro Tonali. I forgot to say because he felt a knock.
Meanwhile, Dejan Kulusevski remains on the sidelines as he continues his return from an injury that has kept him on the sidelines for more than 12 months, with Pedro Porro also absent again after missing out against the Toffees.
"No, Kulusevski not available. Pedro is still not available."
The other big talking point around Tottenham in recent weeks has been surrounding Richarlison, who failed to secure a move away from the club despite links to Everton, Trabzonspor and Vasco da Gama.
The Brazil international has contacted FIFA with regard to the possibility of terminating his contract at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, according to GMS sources, having been left out of the club's 25-man Premier League squad.
Despite the fact that he could play in the EFL Cup on Wednesday night, De Zerbi has confirmed that he won't be available.
"Richarlison, you already know everything, nothing changed for the Carabao Cup or Premier League. The situation is the same."
Alongside the aforementioned quartet, Wilson Odobert, Xavi Simons and Mykhailo Mudryk are all long-term absentees for Spurs, although there is a hope that the latter could be back available either at the end of October, or the start of November.
Kulusevski has been such a key player for Tottenham in the past, and De Zerbi will hope he's ready to play again as soon as possible, even though they will need to be very cautious with how they use him.
Tottenham Receive Udogie Injury Boost
Since the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign, the Italy international has missed a lot of action for Tottenham, and there would have been a concern that there was more to come after he missed out against Everton at the weekend.
However, De Zerbi confirmed in his press conference that the 23-year-old is available, and it will be interesting to see if he comes in for Andy Robertson at left-back, or if the Italian boss lines up the former Liverpool star against his former club.
The pressure is already building from the outside on Tottenham and De Zerbi to start picking up results, and to score some goals, and they have the chance to lay down a big marker at Anfield on Tuesday.