Micky van de Ven absence explained before Liverpool as Tottenham handed fresh injury concern
Tottenham Hotspur have been dealt a fresh injury concern ahead of the clash with Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Thursday.
Spurs visit Anfield for the second leg of the semi-final with a 1-0 advantage from the first leg. Lucas Bergvall scored the only goal of the game in controversial circumstances, as the midfielder was fortunate to escape a second yellow card three minutes earlier.
Tottenham's form has been rotten in recent weeks in the Premier League though, with manager Ange Postecoglou frequently lamenting the injury issues at the club.
READ MORE: Mohamed Salah unleashed thanks to Arne Slot luxury as cruel Liverpool nickname a distant memory
READ MORE: Mohamed Salah laughs off Milos Kerkez fume as true feelings revealed over Liverpool decision
The biggest area of crisis has been in defence, where starting centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero have both been absent.
Spurs seemingly were handed a boost on Thursday when Van de Ven returned to the squad for the Europa League clash with Elfsborg, playing 45 minutes. However, the Dutchman was not named in the traveling party for the clash with Brentford on Sunday.
Speaking before the game, Postecoglou hinted that the defender was being rested with Thursday's match in mind.
"We're just trying to manage his minutes, " he said. "It's a quick turnaround and with speaking with the medical team and Micky himself, we'll just keep him on ice this weekend, give him another week training and then hopefully he'll be ready for the end of the week."
Van de Ven has impressed when available for Tottenham with his aggressive style of defending and his covering speed, although he has suffered with frequent injury issues since moving to the Premier League in the summer of 2023.
The centre-back spoke recently about previous interest in him from Arne Slot during their time together in the Netherlands and the prospect of making a move to Liverpool.
"Do I think I would be playing for Liverpool now if I would have joined Slot at Feyenoord? That would have been some kind of fate," he said.
"Slot is doing really well. Liverpool is now a fantastic team and he is showing again what a brilliant coach he is. Every player who has worked under Slot, will tell you great things about him. In the few talks I had with him at the time, I got a great feeling about his managerial style, his coaching and his ideas in football. He really, really sees the game well."
