Ben Davies questionable for Tottenham’s Premier League opener vs. Soton

The good news is that Tottenham Hotspur defender Ben Davies’ ankle injury isn’t an explicitly bad one. The bad news is that he might not be recovered and fit enough to play in Tottenham’s first Premier League match of the season.

Davies injured his ankle during Tottenham’s preseason friendly against Sevilla in Korea last week and limped off the field after being substituted in the second half. He was later photographed wearing a protective soft cast, which caused some worries that it might have been more serious.

Now, it looks like there’s a chance that the injury could be enough to keep Davies out of Tottenham’s first match against Southampton on August 6. According to the Evening Standard, Davies did not train at all this week, which makes it touch and go as to whether he will be ready for the match against Saints. Should he not be available, new loan signing Clement Lenglet would be his replacement in Antonio Conte’s back three defensive formation.

I’m glad that the injury isn’t an especially bad one, and if nothing else this will give us a good look at Lenglet against a Southampton team that isn’t expected to be especially great this season. It certainly does put a fine point on why Conte was so keen to bring someone in at that left sided CB position this summer though — minus Lenglet we’d likely be looking at Davinson Sanchez playing out of position on the left again, like we saw in preseason.

We’ll get a better idea of what Lenglet can do tomorrow in Tottenham’s next friendly against Rangers at Ibrox, as I can’t imagine that we won’t see him play along with Yves Bissouma and Fraser Forster, who both missed both matches in Korea with COVID-19.