Udogie hamstring injury adds to Tottenham's woes

Italian left-back Udogie suffered a hamstring injury in last week's 2-2 draw with Wolves and will be out of action until February. "It looks around the six-week mark for him," Spurs boss Postecoglou said ahead of Saturday's match at home to in-form Newcastle. Midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur will also miss the game after picking up his fifth yellow card of the Premier League season.

"Obviously we lose Bentancur suspended. None of the injured ones are kind of back yet and we had a bit of an illness running through the squad as well," said Postecoglou. The Australian's options have been particularly badly hit at the back with goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario sidelined along with defenders Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Ben Davies.

Postecoglou acknowledged the need for 11th-placed Spurs to get back on track after four defeats from their past six league fixtures, but they will be coming up against one of the in-form teams in the division. Newcastle were 12th in early December but they have climbed to fifth after four consecutive wins and are firmly in the race for Champions League qualification.

Postecoglou said his team were a "very resilient group". "They are not willing to lay down, they are fighting tooth and nail to make sure we turn this around and it's a credit to them," he said. "Big game for us tomorrow. From a league context, we need to start picking up points for sure and winning these games, so all our focus is on that."

Postecoglou is in desperate need of reinforcements this month but said the club would not panic. "It's no secret, we need to bolster our numbers up a little bit, so the club's working hard on that," he said. "January is not an easy month, we understand it's not an easy time to bring people in particularly. "At the same time, we still want to make sure we do what we think is the best thing for us rather than sort of panic and bring people in who aren't going to be a suitable fit."

 

January 3, 2025