Tottenham make their Premier League comeback on Saturday evening as Roberto De Zerbi’s men cross the capital to face Brentford.
The Italian manager has several key players battling to prove their fitness ahead of the clash. Unfortunately for De Zerbi, the majority of those concerns originate from within his own squad as he grapples with an extensive injury list.
Spurs begin their campaign against Brentford on Saturday, hoping to recover from finishing 17th in back-to-back campaigns. The former Shakhtar Donetsk and Brighton boss has overseen a hectic summer transfer window in a bid to transform the north London club’s fortunes for the upcoming season.
However, player availability threatens to make for a challenging start as the Lilywhites make the short journey across London to take on the Bees. On Friday, De Zerbi confirmed the scale of his problems, stating that Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro would definitely not feature in his defensive line.
According to the Italian manager, Van de Ven was not on the list for the match, along with Porro and other unavailable players. Maddison, Solanke, Udogie and Mateus Fernandes were included in the squad. Sarr was ruled out after feeling pain in his hamstring two days prior, but De Zerbi indicated it was not serious and the club was not taking risks, particularly at this stage of the season.
Dutch centre-back Van de Ven had been participating in Spurs’ training sessions but De Zerbi is unwilling to gamble with his fitness. The manager said the player had worked with the group and was progressing well, having suffered an issue during pre-season in Australia which may have been related to travel, though it was not considered significant. De Zerbi added that Senesi and Ben Davies were available and in the right condition to play the following day.
Regarding Maddison, Solanke, Udogie and Fernandes, their participation depended on passing fitness tests.
De Zerbi also addressed long-term injury victims Kulusevski, Odobert, Simons and Kudus. He emphasized the importance of careful player management and remaining calm when issues arise rather than taking risks. He noted that Kulusevski, Odobert and Simons remained injured, while Kudus was nearly ready, which represented a significant positive for the team. The manager described the three injured players as top performers and expressed eagerness to see them return to action.
Brentford’s selection problems are far less severe, with Keith Andrews set to be without Antoni Milambo and Sepp van den Berg. Milambo is still working his way back from an ACL problem but has returned to training.
According to Andrews, Milambo was a few weeks behind in his recovery from the ACL injury. The manager acknowledged that rehabilitation is not an exact science but noted the player had shown real positivity over the past weeks, having trained with the group for several weeks, sometimes in modified sessions and sometimes in full training, making encouraging progress.
Van den Berg is dealing with a groin complaint. Andrews explained that the club had to manage the situation in a specific way, as the player needed additional rest. The defender had experienced a disjointed pre-season that had not progressed as smoothly as hoped, so the medical staff would need to be careful with him in the short term. He would miss the first few weeks of the season.