Cristian Romero is set for “four or five weeks” on the sidelines with a hamstring injury in another blow to Tottenham Hotspur.
The Argentina international was forced off during the 2-1 win over Everton on Saturday and was later seen with ice on his leg on the home bench.
Manager Ange Postecoglou has now confirmed he is set for a lengthy spell out which only adds to what has been a hefty injury list for much of the season.
“Not so great with Romero,” he said when asked about his availability for Thursday’s game with Brighton & Hove Albion.
“He had a scan the other day and has got a hamstring strain. We are looking at probably four or five weeks for him.
“Disappointing to lose him, for sure. We obviously missed him with the suspension and now we’ve just got him back and he steadied things up.
“Now he will be missing again for quite a chunk of time.”
Postecoglou has been without midfielders James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur since November while full-back Ryan Sessegnon is yet to feature this season at all.
There is better news for Micky van de Ven, however, with the defender — injured in the same game as Maddison on November 6 — nearing a return.
Van de Ven has been out since November (Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Postecoglou is hopeful the Dutchman will be back next month with the Premier League game with Manchester United a possible target.
“He is getting closer,” Postecoglou confirmed. “We will see him some time in January. I don’t think Burnley but Man United on the 14th potentially
“I don’t look at comeback dates until I see them training with us and he hasn’t been part of the group.
“He is not due to be part of the group this week so we’ll see how he is going at the end of this week. Once they start training with the group, that’s when we start thinking about if they are available.
“He is at the tail end of it, for sure and at some point, middle of January he could be available but how we use him after such a long absence will be depending on where he is at.”
Tottenham are fourth in the Premier League and could move up to third with victory over Brighton.
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