Tottenham, rife with knocks and devoid of consistency, picked up yet another injury during its beatdown at the hands of Leicester. This time, it is a player that returned from an absence of five games just a couple weeks ago.
Tottenham confirmed that Rodrigo Bentancur tore his ACL in the loss at the King Power on Saturday. The club ruled the Uruguayan out for the remainder of the season. Bentancur scored the opener in the game against Leicester, but picked up the injury 15 minutes into the second half.
With Bentancur missing out on the remainder of the season, the injury concerns at Tottenham Hotspur continue to grow. Most recently, Hugo Lloris picked up a knee injury in the win over Manchester City. His replacement, Fraser Forster, did not make the best impression with Spurs. He conceded four at Leicester. Lloris is not expected to return until the end of March.
Also, Ryan Sessegnon has a hamstring injury from training just before the Leicester clash. His knock will sideline the Englishman for six weeks. Yves Bissouma is also out with an injury. The midfielder with no definite timetable for his return.
Conte may struggle with Tottenham injury woes
Antonio Conte has not shied away from his expectations with Tottenham this season, and that was before all the injury issues. Losing a goalkeeper like Lloris and a midfielder like Benatancur will make it even harder for Tottenham to punch into the top four.
As of now, Spurs sit in fifth, having already played one more game than Newcastle ahead of them. Behind Tottenham, Brighton is four points back. However, the Seagulls have two games in hand.
While games in hand are not guaranteed points, it does leave Tottenham in waiting. Its form has shown the greatness of the club but also its glaring weaknesses. For example, Tottenham shined against Manchester City and Fulham. Those were two crucial wins back-to-back to get Spurs back into contention for top four. On either side of those wins, though, are three losses by a combined seven goals. Granted one of those was at Manchester City and the other was to league leaders and North London rivals Arsenal.
Conte takes on the first step of this renewed injury crisis at Tottenham in the Champions League. Spurs are on the road on Tuesday at AC Milan before venturing back home for a league game against West Ham United.
PHOTO: IMAGO / Pro Sports Images
