Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 loss to Aston Villa at the weekend means that the club have exited two cup competitions in the space of four days.
And while pressure continues to build on Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou, the Australian claimed that his side will be an “outstanding team” once the club’s injury crisis eases.
Spurs were without 11 senior players for the loss to Villa, and after the match Postecoglou defended his players, saying that “for two and a half months, this small group of players have given everything in multiple competitions”.
And while Spurs’ injury crisis has been well-documented amidst their fall to 14th in the Premier League, several other clubs have suffered mini-crises after injuries to vital players and new signings.
So, should Postecoglou be given some leeway as he deals with a slew of injury problems, or have other teams managed to grind out results with problems that are equally as bad?
Tottenham’s current injury crisis
As mentioned above, Spurs were missing 11 senior players at the weekend, including their favoured centre-back pairing of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven as well as starting goalkeeper Guigliemo Vicario and left-back Destiny Udogie.
In addition, Radu Dragusin recently suffered an ACL injury, having provided cover for the starting central pairing for the last couple of months.
The problems are less severe in midfield, with only James Maddison missing as it stands.
In attack, summer signings Dominic Solanke and Wilson Odobert are out, while Richarlison missed the match despite only returning from injury a couple of weeks ago.
On the wings, Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner have been the other notable absentees in recent weeks.
Ranking each Premier League club’s injury problems
Liverpool
Arne Slot’s side have perhaps been the luckiest - or simply the best-performing – side in terms of injuries, with only Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez currently out.
While the club have had issues with Diogo Jota and others at times this season, the league leaders remain the least-affected club so far this season.
Nottingham Forest
Forest are another side with just two current injuries – to Callum Hudson-Odoi and Murillo.
Fulham
The Cottagers have three current injury lay-offs, with Harry Wilson, Kenny Tete and Reiss Nelson out, though nobody in the squad has suffered a season-ending problem.
Brentford
The Bees are currently missing six players, with Josh Dasilva, Rico Henry and Mark Flekken the main absentees.
Igor Thiago, Aaron Hickey and Gustavo Nunes are also out.
Leicester City
The only long-term injury for the Foxes came to Issahaku Fatawu, who is out until next season. Ricardo Pereira, Jannik Vestergaard, Jamie Vardy and Victor Kristiansen are out for a couple of weeks.
Manchester United
United have suffered well-documented problems with the fitness of both Luke Shaw and Mason Mount this season, with the former approaching a year since he started for the club.
Jonny Evans and Lisandro Martinez are the other players currently out, with the latter having suffered a cruciate ligament injury against Palace last week.
Crystal Palace
Though Palace are currently missing seven players, only two of them are long lay-offs – Doucoure and Chadi Riad.
Eze, Nketiah, Richards and Ward are the short-term absentees for Oliver Glasner.
Chelsea
Though plenty is made of the depth of their squad, Chelsea have struggled with injuries to key players, with seven currently out.
Wesley Fofana remains the main long-term absence, with Benoit Badiashile and Nicolas Jackson expected back this month.
Marc Guiu is currently out for an unknown period, while Romeo Lavia is struggling to play consecutive games at present.
Everton
The Toffees are another club with seven players currently on the treatment table, with Orel Mangala out for nearly the rest of the year.
Attacking options Armando Broja and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are out for at least a month, while Dwight McNeil, Youssef Chermiti, Seamus Coleman and Vitalii Mykolenko are out until the backend of this month.
Ipswich
Relegation-threatened Ipswich are missing some key players at the moment, with Wes Burns and Chiedozie Ogbene likely out for the rest of the season, and Sammie Szmodics out for an undefined period.
Christian Walton and Conor Chaplin are the other players on the treatment table at present.
Southampton
The Saints are currently missing five players, with Tyler Dibling having made the bench last week after a short lay-off.
At present, Jack Stephens, Ryan Fraser, Flynn Downes, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Ross Stewart are out, though none of them are expected to be out past March.
Aston Villa
Villa are only missing a few players at present, though Ezri Konsa may well be added to that list after coming off against Spurs.
Pau Torres is the main longer-term absence, while Tyrone Mings and Matty Cash will be out until the end of February. Ollie Watkins and Ross Barkley should also return towards the end of the month.
Newcastle
Though the Magpies only have five players missing at present, the personnel missing means that it’s one of the more serious issues.
Sven Botman, Dan Burn, Joelinton and Harvey Barnes are all currently out, with Jamal Lascelles the long-term absence, though Eddie Howe’s side were also missing Botman - and other defenders at points – for much of the start of the season.
Wolves
Wolves are another relegation-threatened side with some key long-term injuries, with Yerson Mosquera and Enso Medina out until the end of the season.
In addition, Sasa Kalajdzic, Jorgen Strand Larsen and Boubacar Traore will be out for the next few weeks.
West Ham
As the Hammers have improved under Graham Potter, fans may be able to look forward to further improvements after welcoming back some key players.
Six players are currently out, including key first-team players such as Michail Antonio, Crysencio Summerville, Lucas Paqueta, Edson Alvarez, Niclas Fullkrug and Jean-Clair Todibo.
Arsenal
Though Arsenal currently only have five players missing, the injury to Martin Odegaard earlier in the season came at a defining time for the Gunners, who are now also missing key players in Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Ben White.
Takehiro Tomiyasu remains out, while Gabriel Jesus also suffered an ACL injury earlier this year.
In addition, Arsenal are the club who have suffered the highest total number of injuries so far this season, with 27 different incidents according to Physio Room.
Manchester City
Such is the importance of Rodri that you could argue that his injury alone propels City up this list. However, the club have also suffered plenty of problems in defence this season, with John Stones, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji all suffering lay-offs at one point or another.
At the moment, Ake, Doku and Ederson are also out, while winter signing Nico Gonzalez is being assessed after coming off on his debut against Leyton Orient.
Brighton
The Seagulls had 12 players out at the same time at one point in December, and though that has eased slightly, they’re still without eight members of the squad.
Igor Julio is out for the rest of the season after needing hamstring surgery, with James Milner likely out until April and both Jason Steele and Ferdi Kadioglu out until March.
In addition, first-team players Solly March, Pervis Estupinan, Mats Wieffer and Lewis Dunk are all currently absent.
Bournemouth
Andoni Iraola’s high-flying side have one of the worst crises in the league at the moment, with nine players out including main strikers Enes Unal and Evanilson. The former will be out until late in the year, with Evanilson expected back in a few months after fracturing his metatarsal.
In addition, Marcos Senesi, Julian Araujo, Adam Smith, Alex Scott, Luis Sinisterra and Julio Soler are all out, with the earliest expected return at the end of February.
Tottenham
Overall, it does appear that Spurs have had the worst injury problems in the league this season.
In addition to currently having 11 players out, the length of the different layoffs – and the importance of the various players – mean that Postecoglou probably does deserve some slack.
The starting centre-back pairing of Romero and van de Ven have been out since October, with the Argentine having foot and ankle problems and the Dutchman suffering hamstring issues. Both were rushed back for the December match against Chelsea, but neither finished the game and they’ve been suffering issues ever since.
Vicario has been out since the end of November, while another starting defender, Destiny Udogie, has been out since the end of 2024, and they are now lacking cover at centre-back after the injury to Dragusin.
In midfield, Rodrigo Bentancur missed two league matches through concussion, while Pape Sarr missed two matches this year with a knock and James Maddison has been out since the end of January.
Brennan Johnson has been out since mid-January with a calf strain, with Dominic Solanke suffering a knee injury around the same time.
Wilson Odobert has been out since September, while Richarlison has missed a total of 15 games in the league and was then forced off against Brentford last week. Finally, Werner has been out since the beginning of 2025.
