Spurs travel to the Etihad Stadium next week to take on Manchester City in the Champions League and Pochettino’s men travel to Manchester with a slender 1-0 lead.
The Lilywhites managed to hold down Guardiola’s men at the new Spurs’ stadium and the fact that Man City weren’t able to score an away goal would be a big confidence booster for Poch and his men going into the second half. But despite that win, it looks like Spurs have been the team who are suffering the worst.
The first big blow came during that first leg when Harry Kane was taken off the pitch after suffering a nasty challenge from Fabian Delph. The England international immediately hobbled off the pitch and with an ankle injury and now it looks like the forward might be out for the remainder of the season.
And if this was not enough, Dele Alli and Harry Winks were both taken off during the first leg and the duo did not play any part during Spurs’ win vs Huddersfield on Saturday.
And speaking after the game, Mauricio Pochettino has suggested that the pair might very well miss the second leg at the Etihad on Wednesday.
Poch said on Alli: “We’ll see because we are not sure. He is doing some training sessions with protection, he needs to feel comfortable.
“It is a little bit painful because he broke his hand in two different places. It all depends on the time, we will see if we arrive in a position where he is comfortable to play. We’ll see, today is difficult to know.”
“It’s the same as in the past,” he added on Harry Winks.
“He was training yesterday and the middle of training started to feel it again something painful in his groin. He’s a player we need to assess tomorrow, and then after tomorrow take a decision.
“It’s a similar situation, it’s not a big issue but it’s an issue that maybe not allowed to play or not going to be in condition to play Wednesday.
We need to assess. We are optimistic, but you know there is doubt.”
With three top players out of the picture for Spurs, the onus will be on the likes of Son and Christen Erisken to provide the goods in midweek.
While this will undoubtedly be a tough task for Poch and his boys but the manager will not pretty well that one away goal can change the whole complexion of the game and in turn help Spurs reach the semi-finals.
