Reguilón, Lamela Among Players Not Available for Tottenham

Jose Mourinho confirmed that Sergio Reguilón and Erik Lamela would be among the players missing the Europa League match against Ludogorets in Bulgaria.

Before jumping on the plane to fly to Bulgaria, Jose Mourinho held his pre-match presser for the London media. Mourinho was in rare form as he protected Harry Kane, waxed philosophical about his relationship with Tanguy Ndombele and most importantly updated us on some players unavailable for the Ludogorets match.

Unavailable Players for Tottenham

Jose Mourinho confirmed some players were going to the miss match for different reasons. First, new left back Sergio Reguilón missed the flight with illness. Mourinho was quick to note it was not Covid related, but that the team was still trying to isolate the Spaniard. Jose noted it was not a debilitating loss for Tottenham as Spurs have Ben Davies, “who is a professional” and was the starter for most of last season. We have Davies as the starting left back in our projected XI and now with Reguilón out, maybe Dennis Cirkin gets a call up.

Besides Davies, Serge Aurier was noted to have a “little problem” which was going to keep him out. Mourinho said no more than that about Aurier, nor did he say anything about Matt Doherty, would presumably start in his place. The other player Mourinho mentioned was Erik Lamela and it sounded more like he was going to be shut down until Manchester City.

Mourinho noted Lamela had a “little problem” for a while and that after the last match, they had decided to “shut him down for a week plus the break”. Thus, we will not see Lamela against Ludogorets or against West Brom at the weekend. Given the Argentine’s history of long injury layoffs, the extra rest should do Erik Lamela some good. Of note, who might play in an attacking role that Lamela would now open was not shared.

Ultimately, Lamela getting some extra rest is good as he has been productive this season and it would be nice for him to play more than less. Maybe this means Dele Alli gets another chance or is at least a bit closer to the field than he would have been. As Mourinho noted, Davies will be fine for subbing for Reguilón and probably wants to spend more time at left back after playing several matches at center half. As for Serge Aurier, the ambiguity of why he is out is a bit concerning and Matt Doherty has logged a lot of minutes already. Hopefully, Aurier’s issue will not keep him out long term and he returns sooner than later.