Tottenham’s Alderweireld Withdraws from Belgium Squad

Toby Alderweireld is set to return to Tottenham much earlier than expected because of a stomach flu.

Some bittersweet news for Tottenham and Belgian international, Toby Alderweireld, as he was forced to withdraw from the Belgium squad because of a stomach flu.

This means that he won’t be able to participate when his fellow compatriots take on Portugal tomorrow in Leiria after the match in Brussels was initially canceled before switching venues due to terror attacks.

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Down below is a tweet from Belgium’s official Twitter account, regarding the illness.

Now whether you regard a stomach flu/illness as an injury or not, that’s up you. However with a match against Liverpool coming up this weekend, it’s now a race against time for Toby Alderweireld to get back to full fitness before playing.

And since it’s unknown how bad Alderweireld’s stomach flu is (which is very painful by the way due to previous experience), then it could be a game-time decision if Mauricio Pochettino decides to risk him in a crucial match or not.

A late fitness test will determine the 27-year-old’s availability but it’s still too early to officially write him out of the starting lineup. That said, it would have been great if Toby Alderweireld returned to Tottenham without suffering an illness while on international duty but that’s out of his control, because these things just happen.

Therefore, if worse comes to worst, Pochettino will have a backup plan in mind.

And that is to play Eric Dier next to Kevin Wimmer while having Mousa Dembélé partner up with Ryan Mason at central midfield.

This will limit the amount of change in the starting lineup so that Dele Alli will continue to work behind Harry Kane as the team’s central attacking midfielder.

Another option is Jan Vertonghen, who has said he could be fit in time once the international break is over. But it’s a stretch to think he can recover his form instantly without any football in two months.

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It won’t be the first time that Eric Dier and Kevin Wimmer have partnered up at center-back as they have worked together before during Tottenham’s FA Cup run.

From the third round replay against Leicester City up to Spur’ 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace in the fifth round.

That and Dier has played in central defense four times this season already (mostly in the FA Cup as mentioned above) so a switch in positions isn’t too much to ask for, for the 22-year-old.

And in those three games with a Dier-Wimmer partnership, Tottenham only conceded two goals. Granted, one game ended up knocking them out of the FA Cup entirely, the point is that there’s still plenty of positives to draw from those three cup games.

So initially, while it sucks to see Toby Alderweireld return to Tottenham with a stomach flu, and his availability for Liverpool on April 2nd is up in the air. The thought of having Eric Dier drop back as a center-back isn’t a patchwork of a job. Considering that he’s played there this season and mostly all of last term.

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Meaning, there’s some slight concern but not full-out worry for the upcoming Premier League match. Now whether Tottenham can win without Toby Alderweireld though, that remains to be seen.

Therefore here’s hoping the Belgian international recovers in time if he can. If not, Eric Dier is more than capable in getting the job done alongside Kevin Wimmer for the time being.