Tottenham's Spence makes a quick return, but their defensive linchpin suffers a major injury.

2026-02-10 02:28

Tottenham Hotspur will host Newcastle United at home. For Tottenham, who have been plagued by injuries recently, the timely return of defender Djed Spence after overcoming a calf injury is undoubtedly a shot in the arm before this tough match.

However, Tottenham's defensive crisis has not been resolved. Manager Thomas Frank confirmed two pieces of bad news before the match: starting left-back Destiny Udogie suffered a hamstring injury on Saturday and is expected to be out for 3 to 4 weeks.

Meanwhile, defensive linchpin and captain Cuti Romero will face a severe four-match suspension after receiving his second red card of the season in the last match against Manchester United.

Despite a depleted squad, Frank showed resilience at the pre-match press conference: "There's no doubt we have a lot of players missing, which is never a good thing. But we performed well in the first 30 minutes against Manchester United."

"Although we will be missing these two key players tomorrow, with Spence's return and Dragosin's good form, I am confident that we can still field a very competitive team tomorrow."

Tottenham's injury list is currently disastrous. Besides the two key defenders mentioned above, the team is also missing nine other important players: James Maddison, Richarlison, Dejan Kulusevski, Pedro Polo, Rodrigo Bentancur, Mohamed Kudus, and Ben Davies. This match will severely test Tottenham's squad depth and tactical adjustments.

Image source: Internet/BBC