LONDON (Reuters) – Tottenham Hotspur only have 13 first-team players to choose from for Thursday’s crucial Europa League clash away to Hoffenheim with midfielder Pape Matar Sarr the latest addition to an already crippling injury list.
Sarr suffered a knock during the 3-2 defeat by Everton at the weekend — a result that heaped more pressure on manager Ange Postecoglou whose side have only won two of their last eight games.
Postecoglou is also unable to call on keeper Antonin Kinsky who is ineligible having played in the Europa League group phase with Slavia Prague while defenders Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon are not registered for the Europa League squad.
Tottenham are ninth in the Europa League standings after six games with only the top eight qualifying automatically for the knockout phase so they need a result in Germany on Thursday.
Midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur is available again after a concussion-enforced absence but Postecoglou is down to the bare bones with 14 players unavailable.
“The reality is we don’t have a lot of choice,” Postecoglou told reporters. “I mean Pape’s the latest of the guys who’ve been sort of grinding through for as long as they can.
“We’ve no other options, that’s the basic premise of it. We’ve probably got 13 first-team players who’ve travelled. At the weekend we’re hoping Pape on a quick turnaround, and potentially (Yves) Bissouma but everything else is further down the track. We don’t have many options, apart from throwing untried youngsters in there but again I don’t want to do that to them.
“We’ll try to focus on the next task, that’s tomorrow night, get through that and assess it from there.”
Tottenham have slumped to 15th in the Premier League after a dreadful run of one win in 10 league games and Sunday’s home clash against Leicester City is a game Spurs dare not lose.
Postecoglou has come under fire but the club’s hierarchy is aware of how much of a role the injury crisis has played in what has been an extremely disappointing season so far.
The Europa League schedule and a run to the League Cup semi-finals have further stretched the squad, Postecoglou said.
“You really need a strong squad of players and keep them healthy to cope with playing in Europe if you do well in the cup competitions like we have, because it’s not manageable when you’ve got three games a week for the length of time we have,” Postecoglou said.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
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