Roberto De Zerbi has confirmed that Xavi Simons suffered a knee injury in Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
Spurs were on the counter-attack following a corner in the second half when Xavi tried to keep the ball in play deep in Wolves’ half. The 22-year-old fell awkwardly after colliding with Hugo Bueno.
Xavi went down in pain but stood back up after receiving treatment for a couple of minutes. The Netherlands international dropped to the floor again and then protested when De Zerbi substituted him for Joao Palhinha. A couple of minutes later, Xavi was put on a stretcher and taken to the dressing room.
Dominic Solanke picked up a muscle injury in the first half and was replaced by Richarlison.
Despite losing two of their most influential attacking players, Palhinha’s second-half goal secured Spurs their first league win since December. They remain in the bottom three following West Ham United’s 2-1 victory over Everton. Losing Solanke and Xavi for an extended period of time will damage their chances of avoiding relegation.
It is a blow to both of their chances of playing at this summer’s World Cup for England and the Netherlands respectively.
“For Xavi it is a problem of his knee,” De Zerbi said in his post-match press conference.
“We go to see in the next days, Monday or Tuesday. For Solanke it is not a big problem. I don’t know how many games we lose him but I would like to know the situation with Xavi because the knee is always different than the muscular injury.
“He felt pain. I spoke to him two, three minutes ago. He feels better than the beginning of the injury.”