Tottenham Faces Injury Woes Ahead of Premier League Opener

Tottenham head back into Premier League combat on Saturday with a season already shaped by absentees and unanswered questions.

Roberto De Zerbi takes his rebuilt side across London to Brentford looking to drag Spurs away from the gloom of back‑to‑back 17th-place finishes. The recruitment drive has been bold, the rhetoric confident. The squad list? Brutal.

Up to 13 players could be missing for the opener, and the bulk of that damage sits squarely in the Tottenham dressing room.

De Zerbi’s first test: a patched-up XI

De Zerbi has spent the summer reshaping this team, but his first competitive lineup of the new campaign will be dictated as much by the treatment room as the tactics board.

On Friday, he drew a clear line on his defensive options. Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro are out.

“No, Micky is not on the list for tomorrow, like Pedro Porro and the other players are all inside,” he said. “James Maddison is inside, Dominic Solanke is inside, Udogie is inside, Mateus Fernandes is inside.

“Pape Sarr, no, because he felt pain two days in his hamstring. Nothing important, but we don’t take risk with him and especially in this moment.”

So Maddison, Solanke, Destiny Udogie and Mateus Fernandes are at least in contention, their availability to be judged closer to kick-off. Sarr joins the growing list of enforced absences.

Van de Ven had offered a glimmer of hope by rejoining training, but De Zerbi refuses to gamble on one of his key defenders so early in the season.

“Today he worked with us, with the group and he is going very well,” the Italian explained. “He suffered a problem during the pre-season of Australia, I don’t know if it was the flight, but not a big problem.

“We have Senesi, we have Ben Davies and in the right condition to play the game tomorrow.”

That points towards a back line already under strain before a ball is kicked in anger.

Star quality stuck on the sidelines

The injury cloud doesn’t stop there. Dejan Kulusevski, Wilson Odobert, Xavi Simons and Mohammed Kudus are all still sidelined, stripping De Zerbi of some of the attacking flair that was meant to redefine this Tottenham side.

“I think it's important also the management of the players, when the players have some problem, we have to stay calm, don't take risks,” De Zerbi said.

“We have Kulusevski, we have Odobert, we have Xavi Simons, injuries. Kudu is almost ready, that is a big point for us, but these three players are top players for us, and we're looking forward to watch them on the pitch.”

Kudus being “almost ready” offers a sliver of optimism, but for now Spurs head into their opener with several of their headline acts watching from afar.

For a club desperate to break out of the relegation scrap cycle and move back towards the top half, it is a harsh early reminder of how fragile plans can be.

Brentford’s cleaner bill of health

Across the capital, the mood is calmer.

Brentford boss Keith Andrews has his own issues, but they are lighter by comparison. Antoni Milambo will miss out as he continues his recovery from an ACL injury, while Sepp van den Berg is also unavailable.

“Antoni is a few weeks behind with the [ACL] injury,” Andrews said. “It’s not an exact science, naturally, but he’s had a really positive couple of weeks. He’s been training with the group for a number of weeks - sometimes modified, sometimes full training. He’s making really good strides.”

Van den Berg’s problem is a groin issue that has disrupted his pre-season.

“We’ve had to manage that in a certain way,” Andrews admitted. “He needs a little bit more rest, unfortunately. He’s had a disjointed pre-season - it hasn’t flowed as well as we’d have liked - so we’re going to have to look after him in the short term. He’ll miss the first few weeks of the season.”

So Brentford, with a relatively stable core, face a Tottenham side patched together and already stretched.

For De Zerbi, who arrived to lead a reset, this is the reality of his first Premier League step: a club trying to escape old habits, chasing a fresh start, while counting the cost of every name missing from the team sheet.