Tottenham‘s injury crisis continued over the weekend as they fell to their third successive Premier League defeat, leaving plenty in doubt for the Carabao Cup decider.
It remains a mystery how Liverpool succumbed to the first-leg defeat at Tottenham earlier this month, with Ange Postecoglou’s side having lost to Arsenal, Everton, and Leicester since then.
The Spurs boss is under increasing pressure as his side sit just eight points above the relegation zone in 15th, though he has had an extensive injury list to navigate.
Guglielmo Vicario, Djed Spence, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Wilson Odobert, James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Dominic Solanke all missed Sunday’s 2-1 loss.
Pape Sarr and Richarlison were then withdrawn in the aftermath of Leicester‘s quick-fire double and Postecoglou said post-match that the former “shouldn’t have played” as “he obviously wasn’t fit.”
As for the Brazilian, Postecoglou explained that “he was feeling his groin, he should have come off at halftime but he wanted to give another 10 minutes. I could see he wasn’t running well so that is why I took him off.”
Liverpool meet Tottenham at Anfield for a place in the Carabao Cup final on February 6, enough time to potentially welcome a few players back into the fold from the injury list.
Maddison will be expected to be in contention against the Reds, while defenders Romero and Van de Ven have returned to training after long-term injuries but are no guarantees to feature.
Arne Slot, however, will know he can draw a line through Vicario, Udogie, Odobert, Werner, Johnson and Solanke for the Anfield tie as they all have more serious injury issues.
It is a stark contrast to Liverpool’s injury list which currently includes Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota, with an update on their progress possible in Tuesday’s pre-PSV press conference (6.45pm GMT).
The Reds have a 1-0 deficit to overturn at Anfield next week if they are to contend their first cup final under Slot on March 16 against either Newcastle or Arsenal.
Since the two teams last met, Spurs have won two and lost three with an aggregate scoreline of 10-9 in their favour – which sums up their season – while the Reds have won four and drawn one.
