Tottenham Hotspur have suffered the significant setback of losing Richarlison to a knee injury for the next few weeks – ruling him out of the key meeting with Aston Villa next weekend in the process. The Brazilian struggled in front of goal for the first 18 months or so of his time at Spurs, but since December he has returned nine goals in his last 10 Premier League games.
Richarlison came off in the second half of Spurs’ 2-1 defeat to Wolves last time out, the last time they played almost a fortnight ago, and manager Ange Postecoglou – ahead of their meeting with Crystal Palace this weekend – has confirmed that he’ll have to do without him for the next three weeks at least.
That means that the centre forward, who has been used as the club’s focal point this term after the summer sale of Harry Kane to Bayern Munich, will not be available to be called upon when Spurs head to Villa Park for what looks on paper to be a huge game in deciding who claims the fourth Champions League place.
“Richarlison is out for three to four weeks. He picked up a bit of a knee injury in the last game,” Postecoglou said. “With Richy, it’s disappointing, he’s been a key contributor, how our season has gone, get one back and lose one.”
Spurs winger Ryan Sessegnon has also had a setback; the winger has only played seven minutes this season, in the FA Cup win over Burnley, and he has undergone surgery on his hamstring injury collected in an under 21s game.
“Ryan had a bit of a setback after the last game, well a big one,” Postecoglou added. “Sess is a tough one, it’s through no fault of his own, worked hard to come back.It’s always challenging when happens as series of events and he hasn’t had any reward for all his hard work of rehab in terms of getting out there to play. He will get the support he needs, he’s had surgery, he’s a positive guy and he’s been through this before so hopefully that helps.”
Spurs will also be without goalkeeper Fraser Forster, while Pedro Porro is touch and go to return in time for the trip to Villa. There’s more positive news on the availability of full-back Destiny Udogie, who could feature against Palace this weekend having missed the defeat to Wolves last time out. Manor Solomon could also return against Villa.
