Jose Mourinho has revealed that top of the table Tottenham (you won’t get bored of hearing that, will you, Spurs fans?) an injury boost as center back Toby Alderweireld won’t be out for as long as first feared.
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Alderweireld, 31, picked up a muscle injury towards the end of Tottenham’s superb 2-0 win against Manchester City on Saturday and initially Mourinho feared it would leave the Belgian international out long-term.
However, Mourinho spoke to the media on Wednesday and gave a positive update on Toby Alderweireld.
“Toby has a muscular injury but not as big as we initially thought. He will have his time to be out but not like a month, which was immediately what we thought. I’d say between two and four weeks,” Mourinho said.
Who can slot in for Toby Alderweireld?
This is really good news for Spurs, but it doesn’t help them in their top of the table clash against bitter London rivals (watch live, 11:30am ET on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com) on Sunday.
Facing the leading goalscorers in the Premier League this season (having Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Tammy Abraham, Olivier Giroud, Kai Havertz and Callum Hudson-Odoi will help you with that) without your main center back isn’t ideal.
Davinson Sanchez is the most likely to slot in for Alderweireld alongside Eric Dier, while Ben Davies could play at center back at a push and Japhet Tanganga has just returned from injury, but this is perhaps the chance young center back Joe Rodon has been waiting for since his deadline day arrival from Championship side Swansea City.
Mourinho said that Rodon, 23, is ready to feature in the Premier League but throwing the Welsh international in at the deep end away at Chelsea may be a little too much to ask for his first start in England’s top-flight.
Alderweireld and Dier have created a strong partnership early in the season but Mourinho will be more than happy with the news that his veteran Belgian defender has an outside chance of being fit for the north London derby on Dec. 5.