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We might not yet be fully recovered from Wednesday’s defeat to Juventus, but there’s no rest for the weary. Tottenham Hotspur return to Premier League action at the weekend, traveling to the south coast of England for an away match at Bournemouth. And while the Spurs squad is healthy overall, they may be without two of their regular starters.
The club announced via Twitter that defensive utility man Eric Dier will be assessed ahead of the trip and could be set to miss the match after he picked up a knock at Wembley on Wednesday.
TEAM NEWS: @ericdier (elbow) sustained an injury during our game against Juventus and is undergoing assessment to determine his availability for Sunday. pic.twitter.com/f8OsIDxvQx
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 9, 2018
That’s probably okay. Dier has been playing virtually non-stop for the past few matches, and even if he wasn’t half-injured he might be in line for a rest. If he’s not ready to go, it simply means that Victor Wanyama will slot in as his replacement. Vic hasn’t gotten a whole lot of minutes since he returned from his injury earlier in the season, so it’ll be good to see what he can do with another full 90 minutes.
There’s good news on Toby Alderweireld’s hamstring, as well. Though he’s not going to be starting anytime soon, the club said he’s working his way back to training with the full group.
TEAM NEWS: @AlderweireldTob (hamstring) is in the early stages of integrating in parts of First Team training. pic.twitter.com/u9aKstZAzK
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 9, 2018
The issues with Toby are more than just the fact that his hamstring is a hot mess, however. With only nine league matches remaining, I don’t know in how many more games he will feature for Spurs in what could potentially be his last season wearing lilywhite.
I suspect there will be a few other players rotated in after such an emotionally draining midweek match -- Son Heung-Min will surely be rested, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Erik Lamela plays and/or Lucas Moura gets his first Premier League start.
Bournemouth vs. Tottenham will kick off at noon ET on Sunday, 4 pm GMT. (American readers — don’t forget that Daylight Savings Time starts this Sunday at 2:00 a.m., so set those clocks forward an hour.)