Tottenham best and worst case squad scenario for Arsenal North London Derby with Van de Ven hope
The five days ahead will bring plenty of injury news for both Tottenham and Arsenal as they prepare for the first North London Derby of the 2024/25 season.
Sunday brings Mikel Arteta's Gunners to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the visiting boss will have a number of worries ahead of the game with Martin Odegaard suffering an ankle injury on international duty with Norway which forced him off in plenty of pain in the 2-1 win against Austria on Monday evening.
He was spotted on crutches getting on to a flight after the match and will add to Arsenal's midfield concerns with Declan Rice suspended and summer signing Mikel Merino injured in training soon after joining. New defender Riccardo Calafiori also suffered an impact injury in action for Italy during this international break and will need to be assessed ahead of Sunday's derby.
So what about Tottenham, who have their own injury worries and Ange Postecoglou will be watching the remaining international break matches with trepidation. Here are Spurs' best and worst case scenarios going into the North London Derby.
Best case scenario
Postecoglou has two main injury concerns and with both Dominic Solanke and Micky van de Ven the Australian had previously suggested that they were close to being ready to play against Newcastle United before the international break so logic would indicate they will be ready two weeks on.
In our best case scenario that comes to pass and both players are involved in plenty of training during this week ahead of the game to ensure it's not the case of a last-minute throwing of them into the starting line-up.
To have his new £65million striker up front with his finishing and pressing ability as well as the pace of Van de Ven at the back would give Tottenham plenty of power and confidence at both ends of the pitch in front of their home fans.
Richarlison has also been out injured with a muscle injury suffered in training and while Postecoglou hinted that the former Everton man might be out a little while longer, this is a best case scenario so we're having the Brazilian returning for a spot on the bench, and if not then in our scenario young centre-forward Will Lankshear could make it back from his own hamstring injury to take his place among the substitutes for the big match.
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Worst case scenario
This is Tottenham Hotspur so there's always a worst case injury scenario. In this, despite all of Postecoglou's hopes, neither Solanke nor Van de Ven are considered ready to return.
That means Son Heung-min has to continue up front in a central role and Spurs have to play without a focal point in their attack, with their captain taken out of his best spot on the left wing. At the other end of the pitch, Van de Ven misses out and that means Radu Dragusin partners Cristian Romero again with the Argentine playing awkwardly on the left of the central pairing as he did at St James' Park.
As it's a worse case scenario, neither Richarlison nor Lankshear are fit enough to play any part from the bench and in true Spurs style there's a late injury worry from the international break with another key player picking up an injury. No, we're not going to say who because if it did happen then you'd blame us!
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