Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has revealed that he hopes to have Pape Matar Sarr back from injury by the end of the week.
While that does mean that the Senegalese midfielder may not be available for the London derby against West Ham on Thursday night, it will be a welcome boost to know that he could be available for the Newcastle United clash the coming weekend.
Spurs have had an awful time with injuries this season. Not having his favoured personnel at his disposal has meant that Postecoglou has had to reinvent and field players in unfamiliar positions.
Having lost three games on the bounce to Chelsea, Wolves and Aston Villa, Spurs stopped their losing streak with a hard-fought 3-3 draw against defending champions, Manchester City.
Richarlison made a return from injury against City and should feature going forward. Cristian Romero has served his three-match suspension and should walk straight back into the eleven.
Pape Matar Sarr is expected to return the coming weekend. It must be added that the return dates for Rodrigo Bentancur, Micky van de Ven, Manor Solomon and Eric Dier are still unknown (Evening Standard).
Ange speaks on Pape Matar Sarr return
Speaking post-match after the game against Manchester City, Postecoglou revealed that he is hoping to have Pape Matar Sarr back by the end of the week.
He told Alasdair Gold: “We’ve gone through a fairly extreme time. We’ll get Romero back now and we’ve missed him. Richarlison got some game time, Pape Sarr will hopefully be available by the end of the week but the rest won’t be back for a while.”
The 21-year-old has been a crucial figure for Spurs this season at the base of midfield, alongside Yves Bissouma. He has played 13 times for the club in all competitions, scoring once and assisting twice so far (Transfermarkt).
Spurs Musings Opinion
There is light at the end of the tunnel for Spurs. The kind of luck we had with injuries and suspensions over the past month has been appalling. Slowly yet surely, we are starting to see players return.
While the big names like Maddison, Van de Ven and Bentancur and still some time away from coming back, we can at least have a squad where players can play in their preferred positions, unlike what we saw in recent games.
Sarr won’t be ready for West Ham and might not be risked for Newcastle either. Nottingham Forest would represent a more realistic target and that’s what the player and the club might ideally be working towards. Let’s hope we don’t have to go through a situation like this ever again.