James Maddison and Yves Bissouma are currently sidelined with injury but Thomas Frank will be hoping a number of Tottenham stars return for the clash against Arsenal
Tottenham’s injury issues have been well documented in recent weeks, with Thomas Frank potentially without as many as 12 players for the weekend’s North London Derby against Arsenal.
It’s a far from ideal scenario for the Dane as he prepares his side to face the Premier League leaders. James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Radu Dragusin, Dominic Solanke, Yves Bissouma and Archie Gray have either not featured at all this campaign or only been afforded limited minutes due to injury.
There are also concerns over the fitness of Ben Davies, Kota Takai, Lucas Bergvall, Mohammed Kudus and Randal Kolo Muani going into Sunday’s clash at Emirates Stadium. Pape Matar Sarr also limped off during Senegal’s 2-0 defeat to Brazil on Saturday, with the 23-year-old missing his country’s friendly against Kenya on Tuesday.
“We left him in London,” Senegal manager Pape Thiaw said. “He took a knock. So we felt it would be difficult for him to recover in just two days. Since we were in his home city, we preferred to leave him at the disposal of his club so he could receive treatment there.”
Frank will be keen to get a number of the aforementioned players back fit as soon as possible, and two senior stars have been hard at work in the gym at Hotspur Way over the international break. James Maddison shared a picture of himself with Yves Bissouma in the gym on Tuesday on his Instagram account, alongside a bicep emoji.
Maddison suffered an ACL injury in pre-season and is expected to miss most of the season, while Bissouma was stretchered off with an ankle injury while playing for Mali in October and has since undergone surgery. Both players are yet to play for Spurs this season and it’s unclear at this stage when both will make their returns.
The England international was a big support to Radu Dragusin during the centre-back’s own recovery from an ACL injury picked up in January and was even in attendance at a behind-closed-doors friendly last week as Dragusin made his long-awaited comeback.
“Honestly everybody, but you know, especially Madders, he was there when I got injured, he always was next to me to give me a laugh in a difficult day,” Dragusin said after playing 45 minutes for Tottenham Under-21s against Leyton Orient. “For him to be here next to me, it really meant a lot, because you know, this is how we are here, we are a family, we don’t let anyone down in the hard moments, so I’m really grateful to be part of this group.”
It may be that Bissouma and Maddison, and all the other injured stars, share a close bong over the coming weeks and months as they look to push each other through their rehabilitations. Frank will be hoping the recoveries go smoothly and that some of his injured stars will be available for this weekend’s North London Derby.
