Tottenham were already facing the huge task of avoiding relegation from the Premier League before Roberto De Zerbi lost two more key attacking players to injury.
Roberto De Zerbi is without 10 injured players at Tottenham (Image: Lewis Storey/Getty Images)
Tottenham won their first game of 2026 at the weekend, but their hopes of somehow escaping relegation from the Premier League remained bleak. Spurs fought hard to beat bottom-of-the-table Wolves 1-0 on Saturday, but West Ham prevailed in the closing stages, only for two injuries to weigh in on them.
Roberto De Zerbi has four games left to save Spurs from the previously unthinkable situation of playing the 2026/27 season in the Championship. And they will have to do so without two key attacking players, with Xavi Simmons out until 2027 with an ACL injury and Dominic Solanke unlikely to return this season with a hamstring issue.
In the win at Molineux, Solanke was forced off and Symonds was stretchered off in agony. De Zerbi probably had high hopes for his attacking team to find a way out of dangerous situations.
Spurs sit 18th in the table, two points behind West Ham, the north Londoners’ only realistic target, after both Leeds and Nottingham Forest escaped trouble thanks to their impressive unbeaten records. Tottenham face fifth-placed Aston Villa this weekend, followed by games against Leeds, Chelsea and Everton.
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They have not won a game in their 15 league games so far and realistically need to win two of their final four to overtake the Hammers. And they will have to do so with the longest injury list of any team in the Premier League.
After Solanke and Simmons went down on Saturday, Spurs now have 10 unavailable players in their squad, with only Liverpool coming close to that number with eight. Wilson Odbert, Mohamed Kudus, Dejan Kulusevski, Cristian Romero, Ben Davies, Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Oudogui and Papu Sarr have also suffered injuries of varying severity at the worst possible times.
The lack of creativity and goalscoring threat is the most obvious problem, with Richarlison, Randal Kolo Muani and Matthijs Tell the only attackers currently qualified. James Madison has returned to the bench for the past two games, but hasn’t played in a competitive game since last May after tearing his ACL during the preseason.
Xavi Simmons was carried off on a stretcher at Molineux (Image: Simon Stacpoole/Getty Images)
Despite this, Jamie Carragher believes Maddison could be important to keeping Spurs. “He’s the only one I can think of in terms of doing something special. He has the qualities I mentioned about Jarrod Bowen and Morgan Gibbs-White,” he said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
“He’s coming back from a major injury and he’s probably only been on the bench for 15 or 20 minutes, but when you look at this team and think he can create that bit of magic that Spurs need, especially in the away games at Aston Villa and Chelsea, he’s the only player.
“If you think about the Spurs players, there was a bit of a fear of going down, and maybe that went away a little bit with the win at Wolves, but Maddison is going to keep getting the ball. He’s going to want to get the ball no matter what the situation is. I think he has a role to play if Spurs are to stay on their feet.”
James Maddison has a big responsibility after returning from injury (Image: Maynard Manyowa/Getty Images)
Former Spurs manager Tim Sherwood feels injuries could end up being a deciding factor, with West Ham only missing veteran goalkeeper Łukasz Fabianski. He told Sky Sports: “Injuries have derailed Tottenham all season. They can’t be unlucky.”
“They need to look at what’s going on with their players and take a good look at it, because anyone can get a contact injury. But a lot of these injuries aren’t contact injuries. They’re twists and soft tissue injuries. And in the end, it looks like you’re going to have to pay for that. The ultimate price is relegation.”
De Zerbi cannot use injuries as an excuse. With depleted numbers, he must find a way to turn the tide.
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