Preparations are fully under way for the biggest matchup of the season so far for Tottenham Hotspur, as Thomas Frank and his crew will travel the short distance to the Emirates Stadium for the former Brenford manager's first North London Derby of his career against Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Although Tottenham head into the matchup hobbled by injuries, there is now hope that star striker Randal Kolo Muani can play without missing any games despite suffering a nasty jaw injury in the final Premier League fixture before the November international break, a 2-2 draw with Manchester United.
Lucas Bergvall will also be back in action for Tottenham after training with the rest of his teammates on Friday, as the star center midfielder was previously out again with a concussion. But despite these two positive injury news updates for Spurs, there is still one more very important player that Spurs cannot quite count on yet.
He doesn't sound far away
According to Thomas Frank himself in a message to the media on Friday ahead of Spurs ultimate fixture against Arsenal, via Lilywhite Rose, star striker Dominic Solanke is not ready to return to the club for this North London Derby, "Dom is not ready yet. We want to be absolutely sure when we put him out there, no setbacks."
Solanke only played the first couple of games of the 2025/26 season after a lingering injury last season, and then he quickly got injured again. The England international has been working his way back from a lingering ankle injury, which Spurs do not want to aggravate again and have him miss even more time.
So while Solanke was crucial to Spurs winning the Europa League last season and has an all around skill set that the attacking challenged Lilywhites have lacked badly, it makes no sense to rush him back now, especially on short notice for such a grueling opponent as Arsenal.
Spurs won't win or lose the North London Derby because of missing Solanke when they have already missed him for months. Kolo Muani should be ready as an option off the bench with his specially fitted mask, while Mathys Tel has shown against both Leeds and Manchester United that he has the quality to be the starting option over Richarlison when needed.
Frank and Spurs need to keep taking the cautious approach with Solanke, but the fact that he is being held out as more of a cautious effort is a good sign; it seems like Solanke may not be far away from a return either.