Relegation-haunted Tottenham Hotspur lost Dominic Solanke to injury in the first half and then Xavi Simons was taken off on a stretcher in the second half of their 1-0 win at Wolves on Saturday, as their woeful luck with injuries to key players continues.
MORE — Spurs win late on at Wolves
And the latest news is that Xavi Simons is out for the rest of the season for Spurs and will miss the World Cup with the Netherlands.
He confirmed the news on his Instagram page, with Spurs stating he has suffered an ACL injury.
“We can confirm that Xavi Simons has ruptured the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in his right knee,” Spurs said in a statement.
“The 23-year-old suffered the injury during the second half of our Premier League fixture at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
“Xavi will undergo surgery in the coming weeks and, following that, will then begin his rehabilitation with our medical team.
“Everyone at Tottenham Hotspur sends Xavi our love and support - we will be with him every step of the way.”
What happened?
Roberto De Zerbi looked on in disbelief as Solanke pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury in the first half, as Richarlison came on in his place.
Then it got worse for Spurs as key playmaker Xavi Simons, their bright spark last week with a goal and assist against Brighton, stretched for the ball in the second half and looked to have hyperextended his knee. Simons got up after initial treatment and tried to run it off but then went down again and was carried on a stretcher out of the stadium.
This is not only bad news for Spurs in their scrap against relegation but Solanke is a good bet to make the England squad for the 2026 World Cup as Harry Kane’s back-up.
While Simons was set to be a key player for the Netherlands this summer but will now miss out.
Xavi Simons, Dominic Solanke injury update, latest news
Here was the injury update from Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi after the game at Wolves.
“Solanke is a muscular injury, I don’t know what level of injury, and for Xavi it’s a problem of knee, and we’re going to see in the next days, Monday or Tuesday,” De Zerbi told reporters. “For Solanke, it’s not a big problem. I don’t know how many games we lose him, but I would like to know the real situation of Xavi, because the knee is always different than the muscular injury. He felt pain, but now I spoke with him two minutes ago, he feels better than at the beginning of the injury.”
“I don’t want to think about the injured players because they are both very important for us,” De Zerbi added when asked how big of a loss they could be for Spurs. “I want to be positive and to think they can play in Villa Park.”
Spurs have four huge games left in the Premier League, as they travel to Aston Villa next Sunday, host Leeds in a massive relegation six-pointer on May 11, travel to Chelsea on the weekend of May 17 and finish the season with a home game against Everton.
With Simons out, that is a big blow as he was excellent against Brighton and Wolves.
Having Solanke available for a big chunk of that run would be very helpful.
Injuries have hit Spurs hard all season and they’ve already lost the likes of Cristian Romero, Guglielmo Vicario, Pape Matar Sarr and Destiny Udogie just before and after De Zerbi took charge a few weeks ago.
