Pochettino: stress from Hugo Lloris’ drink driving arrest contributed to his injury

Hugo Lloris has been out of Tottenham’s starting lineup for Spurs’ last three matches in all competition. Perhaps not unrelated, Spurs lost all three matches. Tottenham’s club captain and starting keeper hasn’t been seen since Spurs defeated Manchester United at Old Trafford on August 27, out with a thigh injury he picked up during training.

But there was something else that Lloris was dealing with around the same time. In the week before the Manchester United match, news broke that Lloris had been arrested by Metropolitan Police and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. Hugo’s manager, Mauricio Pochettino, thinks that there is a connection between the controversy surrounding Hugo’s arrest, and his subsequent injury.

“I think he was under stress during the game against Manchester United. In that stress, maybe it created that injury. The injury now is helping him to take time to think and be a little bit more relaxed, because to compete after what happened I think was a massive stress for him.

”We still do not know [when he will be available]. We hope as soon as possible but I think the plan is still next week, if everything goes to plan in training.”

That last sentence is pretty exciting! Spurs haven’t exactly been at their best with Michel Vorm between the sticks, and while it would be a little bit harsh (but not by much) to attribute Spurs’ slide entirely to Vorm, there’s no denying that Spurs have not been as good since Hugo went down. Spurs should hopefully be able to handle Brighton without him, but having him back sooner rather than later would be, y’know, neat.

Pochettino refused to be pulled into further comment on what, if any, additional punishment Hugo received at the club level after his drink driving guilty plea and subsequent sentencing in court. There were unsubstantiated reports that he was fined two weeks’ wages (around £300k), but nothing more. We may never know until the tell-all book comes out, but Pochettino didn’t give anything away.

“That is private. I think the punishment came from the court, and public judgement is massive punishment. All that happened inside, I think we want to keep it inside, that’s much better.”