Tottenham Hotspur surprised everyone with a dominant display in the Champions League on Tuesday night, as with Destiny Udogie and Dominic Solanke back in the starting lineup, the reigning Europa League champions blanketed Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in their most professional display in months.
It was quite the statement performance from Tottenham at a time when many were writing off Thomas Frank as already fired, with the Dortmund game being a mere formality and a near guaranteed loss, given how poorly Spurs were playing.
But after embarrassing themselves in a 2-1 loss to West Ham United, who sit in the Premier League's relegation zone, Tottenham effectively made mince meat out of the second best team in the Bundesliga.
Lucas Bergvall goes down
However, in classic Tottenham Hotspur fashion, not everything was idyllic about the victory over Dortmund. Aside from the complicating factor of prolonging Thomas Frank's unwelcome stay at manager, Spurs suffered yet another injury blow to a key player who has now sustained multiple injuries over the past year.
Star center midfielder Lucas Bergvall had only just returned from a minor injury, and Frank revealed on the TNT Football broadcast, via The Spurs Express, that the Swedish international is now being assessed for an injury again after being observed in pain.
Once again, Bergvall needed to come out of the game entirely with a potential injury, as Spurs subbed the 19 year old gem out in the 61st minute for Jun'ai Byfield, making it a huge moment for another potential star of the future for Tottenham in the middle of the park.
Tottenham have now watched Bergvall go down multiple times both this season and last season with injuries, and they have to be concerned about the health of their young star. He is not starting every game for Tottenham yet he is often in and out of the lineup with injuries, and Spurs have to be worried about taking his return easy and avoiding any aggravation.
It is never a good sign when a young player suffers recurring injuries, especially when he leaves a game injured so soon after already having suffered an ailment. Tottenham need to strike the right balance between pushing minutes so that Bergvall, one of the most talented young box to box midfielders in European football, gets to develop into an elite player while managing his minutes when he is not at 100 percent. Because a player cannot develop if they are getting injured.