Tottenham: De Zerbi reveals crushing Savio, Bergvall injury blows but Kulusevski is BACK
Roberto De Zerbi has delivered more bad news on the injury front ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s home Premier League clash with Coventry City on Monday evening, with Savio and Lucas Bergvall ruled out of the game, although there is finally better news on Dejan Kulusevski.
After picking up a point with 10 men at Manchester United last time out, Spurs travelled to Marbella for some warm-weather training during the week, in what was also considered a bonding trip for a group of players who have suffered an awful start to the season.
Tottenham will head into the contest with Frank Lampard’s men in the bottom two and still looking for their first Premier League win of the season.
However, they will be without both Savio and Bergvall, after De Zerbi gave a team news update to the press update ahead of the game with the Sky Blues.
The Italian revealed that both players suffered knocks prior to heading out to Spain, stating, when asked about his squad ahead of the contest: “No Savio, unfortunately Savio on Tuesday before leaving for Marbella felt a muscular problem and we have lost him for some weeks.
“And Lucas Bergvall because he had a problem in Manchester early on in the first chance he created for Dominic Solanke.
“He felt pain in his knee but felt fine and on Sunday he came to the training ground and he’ll be out for two weeks.”
The loss of Savio will be particularly keenly felt, with the former Manchester City star having impressed with his pace and trickery down either flank.
Having Bergvall unavailable too also leaves De Zerbi a bit short on central midfield options, given that Rodrigo Bentancur starts a three-match ban for his red card at Old Trafford last time out.
That almost certainly means Mateus Fernandes will start alongside Sandro Tonali in De Zerbi’s engine room, unless James Maddison is deemed fit enough to start at No.10 and Connor Gallagher plays a bit deeper.
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Kulusevski finally back for Tottenham
There is finally some good news with Kulusevski, though, with the Swede set for a return to bench duty against Coventry.
The 26-year-old has not featured for the club in more than 500 days due to a serious knee injury, but he did play in a behind-closed-doors match during the recent international break and was at Old Trafford last weekend to offer support to his teammates.
And De Zerbi has confirmed that Kulusevski will finally pull on a white shirt again, in what should give a home crowd that has had very little to cheer this season a major lift.
He added: “Yes [Kulusevski will be on the bench], the medical staff have given the ok.
“It’s probably the greatest news since the Everton game. He has suffered too much. I told him yesterday and he had a big smile on his face.”
Kulusevski has 55 goal involvements in 146 games for Tottenham, with his creativity and ability to play on the right flank or as a No.10 sorely missed by Spurs.
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