Hugo Lloris to Miss Tottenham’s Europa League Fixture
Tottenham’s number one goalkeeper is set to miss two games with a shoulder injury sustained in the closing minutes of a 2-1 win over Manchester City in the Premier League.
The most important game for Tottenham right now is this Thursday against Fiorentina in Florence, Italy with the Europa League returning. But leading up to this match, Hugo Lloris is set to miss two games with a shoulder injury according to the Daily Mail.
“In the last action of the game versus Manchester City Hugo got a knock on his shoulder – for tomorrow (Thursday) he is out and Sunday too,” Pochettino said.
“We need to assess him during the week and see if he is available next Thursday, for tomorrow and Sunday he is out. It’s a small injury.”
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The injury in question happened when Lloris collided with Manchester City center-back, Nicolás Otamendi, in mid-air to stop a potential equalizing goal in the closing minutes of a 2-1 game at the Etihad Stadium.
Following Hugo Lloris’ parry on the ball, the French shot stopper was on the ground receiving treatment but finished the game and it didn’t look like Tottenham would see their ‘keeper miss some games.
But that isn’t the case now, and Spurs must make do with Michel Vorm standing between the posts. With only five appearances this season — the majority of them coming in the FA Cup — the 32-year-old Vorm will surely be tested.
Losing Hugo Lloris before Tottenham’s fifth round cup tie against Crystal Palace on Sunday won’t be a problem since the French international hasn’t played in any domestic cup competitions this term in the first place. However, Tottenham’s spectacular defense this season will suffer another major blow.
For Mauricio Pochettino though, he doesn’t seem too worried about this latest injury setback to his team. If anything, he’s confident with Michel Vorm covering for Hugo Lloris. Seeing as how the Dutch international has performed admirably all year long despite minimal appearances.
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“Always there is an impact. Hugo is our captain and is a very important player for us but it is important we know now the squad and have all the players are motivated. We believe too in Michel, a top goalkeeper and we believe in him and trust in him.”
Without their number one ‘keeper and being second in the Premier League, any thoughts of purposely losing a two-legged tie against Fiorentina to lessen the burden of matches isn’t on the mind of the Argentine manager.
“It doesn’t change our attitude. Our objective is to try to win the game and tomorrow it is the same. It’s a very important competition for us. We have a strong squad and we have shown we can rotate the team and keep our performance at the same level.”
“It’s important the squad feel and believe they can play. We will try to fight in every competition.”
In fact, since Tottenham have greatly improved as a team from a year ago both domestically and in Europe, there’s more incentive to actually compete in three competitions this season and see what happens in the end.
“We’ve improved a lot – when you get to a new club it’s difficult to set your principles but we can be happy with how we develop our philosophy.”
“It’s true we improved a lot. We need to say we are still a younger squad in England and we need to improve more and work hard. Our improvement is good but not enough and we need to work hard to try to improve more.”
Next: Fiorentina a New Challenge for Spurs
Because of Hugo Lloris’ shoulder injury, a couple of moves will be made according to ESPN UK. The first one is obvious, Luke McGee will be Michel Vorm’s backup as he has spent all season training with the first team. And since pre-season, looked to be the third choice ‘keeper by default.
Now despite the round of 32 being an important fixture for Tottenham, that won’t stop Mauricio Pochettino from giving two 18-year-olds from getting some minutes if needed. Josh Onomah and Cameron Carter-Vickers could play in the first leg or in the second leg or not at all. But they are with the team in Florence, Italy.