Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris suffers gruesome dislocated elbow in Spurs' loss to Brighton
Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had to be stretchered off the field after sustaining a gruesome dislocated left elbow less than three minutes into Saturday’s 3-0 Premier League loss to Brighton and Hove Albion.
Moments after kickoff at Brighton’s Falmer Stadium, the French World Cup-winning backstop went up for a seemingly routine long shot toward the center of his goal. But instead of tipping it over his crossbar, Lloris attempted to catch the effort and slipped, spilling the ball onto his line for Neal Maupay to nod home to give the hosts an early lead:
Lloris’s arm appeared to buckle underneath him as he landed. He immediately grabbed the appendage and started screaming in pain as his teammates waved to the sidelines for assistance.
The 32-year-old was given oxygen on the field before a stretcher was summoned. After a delay of more than five minutes, he was taken off to a standing ovation by both sets of supporters as backup Paulo Gazzaniga came off the bench to replace him.
Lloris was transported to a local hospital. Tottenham later confirmed he suffered a dislocated elbow on the play.
The timing of their No. 1 keeper’s injury couldn’t have been worse for Spurs, which is off to a dreadful start this season after reaching the Champions League final last term. Mauricio Pochettino’s team has now won just three of its first 11 games across all competitions so far. On Saturday, Spurs was looking to rebound from its embarrassing 7-2 midweek defeat to Bayern Munich, but instead found themselves down a goal and a key player before all the fans had taken their seats.
The home side took full advantage of their momentum and the visitors’ shaken psyche after Lloris went down, with Prem debutant Aaron Connolly doubling the Seagulls’ lead a little more than 20 minutes after the contest resumed. Gazzaniga made a point-blank save on Connolly’s first shot, but the 19-year-old was able to convert the rebound:
Tottenham’s nightmare first half ended with the score 2-0. But while the visitors were slightly better after the break, Connolly effectively put the game away with his second goal of the match, which he scored by cutting inside Toby Alderweireld on the left and quickly firing a blistering effort inside of Gazzaniga’s far post:
The Argentine clearly couldn’t do anything to keep it out. In fact, Gazzaniga was one of Spurs’ few bright spots on a day when nearly everything that could’ve gone wrong did. That has to be a silver lining for Pochettino. Because based on the apparent severity of Lloris’ injury, Gazzaniga figures to be be wearing the gloves for Tottenham for the next couple of months.
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