Tottenham lost James Maddison and Micky van de Ven to injury before half-time in the defeat to Chelsea
Ange Postecoglou admitted Micky van Ven’s injury looks to be “significant”, but gave a more positive update on James Maddison after Tottenham’s defeat to Chelsea.
Spurs had their unbeaten start to the Premier League season ended in remarkable fashion, losing 4-1 on Mauricio Pochettino’s return to north London though the scoreline did not reflect the chaos that took place.
Five goals were disallowed across the 90 minutes, while Tottenham had Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie shown red cards as they then fought to hold on for a point with nine-men after Cole Palmer had cancelled out Dejan Kulusevski’s opener. They threatened to do so too, producing an incredibly brave display before Nicolas Jackson scored three times late on as Chelsea finally caught out Spurs high line.
By that point the hosts were down to the bare bones, after Tottenham suffered injury blows before half-time. James Maddison picked up an ankle issue and Micky van de Ven then pulled up with a hamstring injury barely a minute later, as two of Spurs’ key men were forced off.
JAMES MADDISON TOOK A BLOW TO HIS ANKLE IN THE FIRST HALF AGAINST CHELSEA ON MONDAY
Postecoglou will be desperately hoping neither issue proves to be serious, with key clashes against Manchester City and Newcastle to come within the next month, though there will be fears that Van de Ven in particular could be set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
“It’s too early,” the Spurs boss said. “With Micky it’s a pretty significant one.”
The Spurs boss was more upbeat on Maddison’s injury after the match, suggesting the situation of the game was as much behind his decision to bring him off as the blow to the midfielder’s ankle.
“He got a knock on the ankle,” Postecoglou told BBC Sport.
“We were down one man already. It made sense to make a couple of
changes at that point.”
