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Spurs with right back conundrum after Walker and Trippier out with injury

Could we see a return of Eric DieRB?

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United - Premier League Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

There’s some... interesting Tottenham Hotspur team news coming out today regarding Spurs’ right back situation. The club released a statement on Twitter this morning that said that both of Spurs’ first team right backs will miss tomorrow’s match against Leicester City at the King Power stadium due to injury. Kyle Walker apparently picked up an ankle injury somewhere along the way, and Kieran Trippier is out after sustaining a concussion in Sunday’s match against Manchester United.

It’s a dead-rubber match against the Foxes that has absolutely no bearing on Spurs’ final standing in the table, so that’s good. Spurs are locked into second place and are playing only to pad their statistics and not for any meaningful scenario. If you’re going to have a crisis at a fullback position, like what Spurs did a couple of weeks ago when Son Heung-Min started as a makeshift left back in place of Danny Rose and Ben Davies, then this is the time to experiment.

Normally, this situation would be a perfect opportunity to run out Spurs youth academy grad Kyle Walker-Peters, who appears to be a potential first team player-in-waiting. But KWP is off with England’s U20 squad preparing for the U20 World Cup in South Korea, which kicks off next week.

So what now? Well, the most likely scenario is Eric Dier. You might recall that in Dier’s first year with the club he deputized at right back for a number of games. That would leave a hole in midfield, though if Mousa Dembele is deemed fit he’d slot right back in beside Victor Wanyama. (If he’s not fit, it’d likely be Christian Eriksen.)

Other, more crazy, options include bringing Sonny (who’s comfortable on either flank) back to start at right back this time, pushing Toby Alderweireld wide and bringing in Kevin Wimmer as his substitute, or even having Moussa Sissoko deputize, though this last one would probably be the most wacky scenario possible.

But I suspect we’ll see Dier tomorrow at the King Power stadium. We know he can play there, he’s at least moderately comfortable in that position, and whatever, it’s a meaningless match anyway. We’ll have to wait and see what Pochettino opts to do.