Rodrigo Bentancur’s long-awaited return from injury was cut short after he sustained ankle ligament damage during Tottenham’s 2-1 home defeat by Aston Villa; It was Bentancur’s first start since February following a serious knee injury
Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur is expected to be sidelined for at least two-and-a-half months after suffering ankle ligament damage against Aston Villa on Sunday.
Bentancur was making his first start for Spurs since February following a serious knee injury only for his return to be cut short after he was on the receiving end of a poor first-half tackle by Matty Cash.
“It is his ankle, I think,” Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou said following their 2-1 defeat. “It wasn’t a great tackle. I thought he started the game so well and I think it was the reason we got a real good foothold on the game.
“He’s such a creative player. It’s the last thing we needed. Another injury, so (I’m) disappointed to lose him, but we’re yet to see the extent of it.”
The Uruguayan sustained the injury in the 28th minute and despite trying to continue, was replaced shortly afterwards by Pierre-Emile Højbjerg
The 26-year-old becomes the latest player on the treatment table at Spurs with Postecoglou without 11 first-team players for the visit of Villa on Sunday.
Despite being depleted, Spurs had 18 shots, three goals disallowed and hit the woodwork twice – and Aston Villa punished their profligacy to move above them into the Premier League’s top four.
“It is just the situation we’re in at the moment, but we’ll get through it,” added Postecoglou.
“It might take a little while, but we’ll get through it and as long as we show the same intent and play the football we did today, I’ve got no doubt when we come out the other side, we’ll be a very good football team.
“We had four full-backs out there so we didn’t really have the height, which we knew would be an issue for us today but you kind of take those calculated risks with the flipside of it being that some of our football was outstanding today.
“I mean some of the goals we could have scored would have ended up being showreels for us in the way we want to play our football, so for me the positives definitely outweigh the negative of the result.”
Tottenham’s December PL fixtures
Sunday: Manchester City (a), 4.30pm – live on Sky Sports
December 7: West Ham (h), 8.15pm
December 10: Newcastle (h), 4.30pm – live on Sky Sports
December 15: Nottingham Forest (a), 8pm – live on Sky Sports
December 23: Everton (h), 3pm
December 28: Brighton (a), 7.30pm
December 31: Bournemouth (h), 2pm