Pochettino: Christian Eriksen a doubt for Friday’s Atletico Madrid friendly

It’s DANGEROUS down there in Australia, and we’re not talking about on-pitch injuries! First, we found out today that Austrian center back Kevin Wimmer missed today’s friendly with Juventus with a black eye, and now manager Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that Christian Eriksen might miss both matches including Friday’s tie with Atletico Madrid due to illness.

"[Eriksen] got a virus when we arrived in Australia on Saturday. "It was impossible for him to be involved in the game [against Juventus].

"We'll see. We will see what happens on Friday and we hope he will be available to play 45 minutes."

So we already know about Australia’s large numbers of poisonous snakes. There are bats the size of small children. The box jellyfish and Great White sharks are enough that I don’t think I’ll ever step in the water should I visit. And the spiders. Oh God, the spiders.

And now apparently there’s a rash of Aussie-based face-hitting and a virulent strain of the Martian Death Flu going around. Why did we send our players down there again?

It’s not a huge deal if Christian doesn’t play, but it does mean that he only has one chance – the August 5 friendly against Inter Milan in Norway – to get a warm-up match before the Premier League season starts. It’d be kind of a bummer if he doesn’t get as much preseason game time, though you could argue that this virus just means he gets more rest. More rest presumably means more strength to dodge whatever kind of killer Australian creature that might cross his path.