Christian Eriksen’s settling in process at Tottenham was dealt a blow on Friday, with the Danish international suffering an ankle injury in the first half of Denmark’s 2-1 win over Norway. Removed from the game just before halftime, Eriksen will now leave his national team and fly to London to be assessed Spurs’ medical personnel.
Denmark’s coach, however, was pessimistic about the injury.
“We don’t know if he’s out for four or six weeks or how long it will take,” Morten Olsen said after today’s match in Herning. “It’s bad for him at a new club.”
Though he’s been sharing time with Lewis Holtby, Eriksen was in André Villas-Boas’s starting lineup on Sunday - Spurs last Premier League match before the international break. Tottenham lost 1-0 to visiting Newcastle, but Eriksen play 90 minutes, creating a game-high nine chances while occupying a playmaker’s role in the team’s 4-2-3-1. In 11 all-competition appearances this season, Eriksen has one goal and two assists, having made seven starts.
If he is out at least four weeks, Eriksen will miss league games against Manchester City, Manchester United, Fulham and potentially Sunderland, with Spurs also taking on Norway’s Tromsø on Nov. 28. If Eriksen misses six weeks, he’ll also be out for home matches against Liverpool, West Ham United, and Anzhi Makhachkala, Tottenham’s final group stage of Europa League.
With Holtby, Spurs have cover behind their striker, but with nine more matches before Boxing Day, Villas-Boas will need options between his wingers lest he ride Holtby into the ground. Gylfi Sigurdsson and Moussa Dembele are each capable of deputizing in that role, while former Roma star Erik Lamela could be used as a more traditional No. 10. But with those players occupying roles elsewhere in Spurs’ setup, none are likely to provide long-term solutions to Eriksen’s absence.
Thankfully for Spurs, that probably won’t be needed. If his absence is prolonged at all (remember, Olsen’s just speculating on that timeline), he’s still likely to be back by January, though that’s unlikely to make Eriksen feel better about losing valuable time integrating into his new team.
Though the 21-year-old has already established a regular spot in Spurs’ rotation, he’s yet to have the impact many expected while scoring 23 goals over the last three years in the Eredivisie. Today’s injury will only delay that impact’s arrival.