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Premier League football is back this weekend, but there are two very important Tottenham Hotspur players who won’t be participating in Saturday’s big match against Liverpool. In his weekly pre-match press conference, Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino confirmed today that midfielder Dele Alli and club captain/keeper Hugo Lloris will both miss this weekend’s match against the Reds with injury concerns.
#thfc Lloris expected to be out for 'several weeks' with the thigh problem sustained vs. Utd. Alli will also miss Liverpool with a hamstring problem picked on for Eng vs Spain.
— Dan Kilpatrick (@Dan_KP) September 13, 2018
Now look, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but the timing of Hugo’s “thigh injury,” which popped up immediately before his scheduled court date for drink driving, is very thinky-face-emoji curious. It’s probable that Hugo does indeed have a knock, and that’s not great. It also wouldn’t shock me if this is something like a back-door suspension that the club is keeping quiet after Lloris was sentenced to a 20 month suspended license and £50k fine by Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday. I’m not saying! I’m just saying.
I’m more upset by Dele’s injury, which apparently happened while he was training with England after the 2-1 loss to Spain in the Nations League. Dele has been one of the few Spurs players who has been consistently good throughout Tottenham’s opening four matches of the season, and not having him in the side will hurt, especially against a team that’s as good as Liverpool.
And it gets worse.
Poch tells Sky Sports Alli is likely to miss Inter too.
— Dan Kilpatrick (@Dan_KP) September 13, 2018
BAN INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL.
The silver lining to this cloud is that Harry Winks is probably back and ready to go again, and Victor Wanyama made the bench against Watford. Son Heung-Min will also be back in London after his Asian Games gold medal campaign and two friendlies with the Korean national team, and I wouldn’t want to say that he won’t slot right back into the side, especially after he told the press that “fatigue is an excuse.”
Spurs are still a very good team, and they’re playing at Wembley Stadium, a place they know very well, and where they walloped Liverpool 4-1 last season. However, Hugo and Dele are critical pieces of the puzzle, and playing without them makes taking points off of Liverpool that much harder.