Massive Tottenham blow with top star’s injury ‘a lot worse’ than first thought; second player out until 2024

Ange Postecoglou has revealed the injury James Maddison picked up against Chelsea is ‘a lot worse’ than Tottenham Hotspur originally thought, while also providing an update on his team-mate Micky van de Ven.

Tottenham were beaten 4-1 by Chelsea at home in a hugely entertaining match on Monday night. There were five goals, two red cards, five disallowed goals and a host of other VAR calls.

Tottenham incredibly went down to nine men after both Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie were dismissed, but Postecoglou’s men showed brilliant spirit and fight to stay in the game.

Ultimately, Chelsea capitalised on Spurs’ high line through Nicolas Jackson, who bagged a hat-trick to join Cole Palmer on the scoresheet.

While Spurs lost the match, they earned praise from pundits for how the team performed without two players, while also being given a standing ovation at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

However, the loss was a particularly damaging one in terms of Postecoglou’s future selections. Maddison, who has been a revelation for the club since joining from Leicester City in the summer, had to be replaced in the first half after picking up an ankle problem.

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Van De Ven, meanwhile, pulled up with what appeared to be a serious hamstring problem and was resultantly subbed off for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

Ahead of Spurs’ clash with Wolves on Saturday lunchtime, Postecoglou was asked about the state of his squad. He revealed that Maddison will join Van De Ven in being out of action until January.

Ange Postecoglou discusses Maddison, Van De Ven injuries

“Don’t get a lot of time to enjoy the moment, there’s a fair bit happened after Monday night,” he said (via talkSPORT).

“Micky with a hamstring injury we knew was fairly significant. We’re looking at a couple of months into the new year.

“Madders a lot worse than we first thought. Was bad the next day. Again into the New Year with him.

“With Richarlison, the operation that we had kind of scheduled anyway with the international break. With him, a month out.

“We’ve got a couple of suspensions. Ben Davies is back and available. Pedro [Porro] is fine, he’s been training all week.”

The losses of both Maddison and Van De Ven could be hugely damaging to Spurs’ season. Maddison has taken up the mantle of Spurs main creator since Harry Kane left for Bayern, and he has done that job brilliantly.

The Englishman has formed a great partnership with Son Heung-min, registering three goals and five assists in 11 league games to date. However, Spurs will now have to look elsewhere for their creative spark, with Maddison set for a period on the sidelines and also having dropped out of the England squad.

Van De Ven, meanwhile, has been brilliant in central defence alongside Romero. He has adapted excellently to English football, with Rio Ferdinand labelling him ‘the real deal’.

Van De Ven’s pace suits his manager’s high line perfectly, but Spurs could now end up conceding more goals from long balls over the top. Postecoglou is also without Romero for three games due to his recent red card.

Meanwhile, reports have claimed an important player for Postecoglou could surprisingly leave Spurs in the January window.