Gareth Bale, Lucas Moura, Carlos Vinicius to miss Tottenham’s match against Fulham

The matches keep coming for Tottenham Hotspur during the busy holiday period, but the team will be without three of its attackers ahead of Wednesday’s match against Fulham: Gareth Bale, Lucas Moura, and Carlos Vinicius.

In his pre-match press conference, manager José Mourinho said that all three would miss the game after being unavailable for Sunday’s draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers. For now, it seems like short term absences for all three, per Mourinho (via the Evening Standard):

I wouldn’t say [Bale’s injury is] serious but I’d say a few weeks. I don’t expect him to be fit and also I have my doubts that Lucas and Vinicius can be fit for Fulham.

Bale’s is a calf injury, which he likely sustained during last week’s EFL Cup quarterfinal victory over Stoke City, when he asked to come off at halftime. Lucas last played in that game, when he came off in the 66th minute, and Vinicius was an unused sub.

Mourinho also spoke about Tanguy Ndombele, who came off in the 70th minute against Wolves and has only played two 90 minute matches this season. The manager explained that he feels the midfielder is not yet ready to play a full match at the Premier League level:

There are players that naturally have different qualities than others. Some players are very physical, some are very intense. Others are more explosive but they don’t last for 90 minutes. Or they have difficulties lasting 90 minutes. In his case, he’s adapting to a league that is not new, new, new for him but let’s forget last season where he didn’t play much and he had lots of injuries. And this season I believe to play at this intensity and to give the team what it needs with and without the ball, it’s not easy for him to last 90 minutes.

That does not necessarily rule Ndombele out of playing against Fulham, but Mourinho may opt to rotate players considering the fixture congestion. Bale, Lucas, and Vinicius, though, join Giovani Lo Celso on the injury list after he was ruled out of the entire holiday period when he picked up a hamstring injury against Leicester City.