Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has announced some unfortunate news regarding key players in the team. The club’s boss confirmed that both James Maddison and Micky van de Ven will likely be out of action until January. Both stars were forced to be substituted in the first half of the team’s 4-1 defeat to Chelsea on Monday.

Postecoglou delivered updates on the duo during a press conference on Friday. “It’s fair to say a fair bit happened after Monday,” Postecoglou told reporters. “Micky, as we saw the other night, has a fairly significant hamstring injury. Without putting a firm timeline on it, it’s at least a couple of months out for him so we’re looking at the new year with him.”

The Dutch defender has been a smash hit since arriving from Wolfsburg in a $44 million deal this summer. He has previously started every match for Spurs so far this season. Nevertheless, it seems as if Postecoglou will be without van de Ven for at least the next nine matches.

Much like the defender, Maddison will be sidelined for a significant period as well. The playmaker went down with an ankle injury on Monday but was able to continue in the match for a few minutes. Nevertheless, Postecoglou made the move to substitute the midfielder at the same time as van de Ven.

“[Maddison] is a lot worse than we thought,” proclaimed Postecoglou. “He came off with an ankle injury and the next day wasn’t great, so we sent him for a scan. Again, probably into the new year for him.”

Star Spurs forward also had surgery earlier this week

Missing multiple key players is never an ideal situation for any club. However, the timing of the two latest setbacks particularly comes at a difficult time. Spurs have already been without Ivan Perisic, Manor Solomon, Ryan Sessegnon, and Ben Davies due to various injuries. The latter defender, however, has recently returned to training.

Micky van de Ven has been a mainstay in the Spurs defensive line, but he will miss extended time with injury.
Micky van de Ven has been a mainstay in the Spurs defensive line, but he will miss extended time with injury.

Richarlison also underwent surgery this week to repair a nagging groin injury as well. While the forward only just went under the knife, he will likely be back on the pitch before Maddison and van de Ven. Postecoglou told reporters on Friday that Richarlison is set to return to action in about a month.

“Richy had his surgery. To be fair to him, he’s kind of battled through it pretty much for the whole season so far,” continued the coach. “With the international window coming up, it gave us the chance to get it done now. He should only be (out) for four weeks at this stage so not too long after the international break.”

Spurs to be without up to 8 players for Wolves trip due to injury

To make matters worse, Spurs will also be without Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie for their trip to Wolves on Saturday. The defensive duo was both sent off during the contentious matchup with Chelsea earlier in the week.

Romero is set to miss the club’s next three matches due to a dangerous tackle on Enzo Fernandez. Udogie, on the other hand, only received two yellow cards. This means that the full-back will only miss one match. Spurs are next set to face Wolves in the early match on Saturday, Nov. 11.

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