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Tottenham Hotspur receive triple injury boost ahead of Everton clash

sportsmole.co.uk, 22 December 2023, 13:25
Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that all of Ashley Phillips, Brennan Johnson and Giovani Lo Celso will be fit to face Everton in Saturday's Premier League clash.

The Lilywhites host their Merseyside counterparts on the hunt for a third successive Premier League victory, having ended their miserable stretch of form with back-to-back successes over Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest.

Last Friday's encounter at the City Ground saw Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski find the target either side of the half-time whistle in a 2-0 victory, which leaves Spurs just one point behind Club World Cup-competing Manchester City in fifth place.

Former Tricky Trees attacker Johnson started against his old club in last Friday's battle, but the Welshman was forced to come off in the early stages of the match due to a nasty cut to the head.

Blood was dripping from the wound as Johnson went off to be replaced by Oliver Skipp, but straight after the game, Postecoglou confirmed that he had avoided a concussion, which would have rendered him unavailable for this game.

Speaking to Tottenham's media channels on Friday, Postecoglou confirmed that Johnson would be fine to face the Toffees, saying: "Brennan's fine, he's trained all week."

In addition, the Spurs boss also revealed that midfielder Lo Celso - who has reignited his Tottenham career under the Australian - is back from the knock which kept him out of the win over Forest.

Lo Celso's availability will come in handy given that Yves Bissouma now starts a four-game ban for his red card at the City Ground, while left-back Destiny Udogie is absent for one game due to an accumulation of yellow cards.

"Everyone else is OK, we get Gio Lo Celso back, he's trained as well and he's available. Obviously we're losing two lads with suspensions, but from last week everyone else is OK," Postecoglou added, before also revealing in his pre-game press conference that 18-year-old defender Phillips was available again.

However, the Lilywhites remain without an abundance of long-term injury victims, including Alfie Whiteman, James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur, all of whom are recuperating from ankle injuries.

Manor Solomon and Ivan Perisic are also on the road to recovery from knee operations, while Ryan Sessegnon and Micky van de Ven are sidelined due to serious thigh injuries.

Offering a further update on Van de Ven and Maddison - two cornerstones of his team earlier in the season - Postecoglou confirmed that the pair are making progress but are still some way away from a comeback.

"They're progressing, but it's nowhere near them being in the reckoning for any first-team duties yet," Postecoglou added on the Dutch defender and English playmaker.

Tottenham are 11 points and 17 points better off than Everton in the table heading into Saturday's fixture, but Sean Dyche's side travel to the capital on the back of a four-game winning streak in the Premier League.

The Toffees have kept clean sheets in beatings of Chelsea, Newcastle United, Burnley and Nottingham Forest, although they were eliminated from the EFL Cup on penalties by Fulham in Tuesday's quarter-final.

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