TOTTENHAM FORWARD TIMO Werner will miss out on a return to Chelsea after he was ruled out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.
Werner was forced off during Sunday’s 3-2 loss at Arsenal and Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou does not expect the RB Leipzig loanee to play again this campaign.
It means Werner will not get the chance to go back to Stamford Bridge on Thursday night, having spent two seasons at Chelsea and helped them win the Champions League in 2021 during a mixed spell in west London.
“Yeah, not good unfortunately. He’s had a couple of issues after the game with his hamstring,” Postecoglou said of Werner.
“We’ve only got two-and-a-half weeks to go so he’ll miss the rest of the season.
“Ben Davies got a calf injury and he’ll miss the rest of the season as well. Everyone else is OK and Skippy (Oliver Skipp) should be back for this game.”
Werner has scored twice and provided three assists in 14 appearances since his January move and Spurs have the option to turn his loan into a permanent deal.
But Postecoglou insisted: “Yeah, that’s stuff for another day. I have a game tomorrow.”
Spurs lost 3-2 at home to Arsenal on Sunday and two of the goals conceded were from corners, which takes the overall number of goals they have shipped in the Premier League from set-pieces – excluding penalties – to 14.
It has become a topic of discussion around Tottenham in recent months after goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario struggled from set-pieces in matches with Manchester and Everton earlier this year. However, Postecoglou does not believe Tottenham have a set-piece issue.
“I’ve answered this question and I don’t think it satisfies people, but no I don’t see it as an issue.
“It’s something that we work on along with everything in our game. There are far more important things that we need to concentrate on at the moment in terms of the team we’re building.
“I think people want to be believe, and it can be, that football is very prescriptive. You’ve got an illness, here’s the tablet and you feel better. I’ve never believed that.
“I’ve always been about trying to create an environment and a style of football that can win things. I’ve never worked in a prescriptive manner and I certainly won’t be doing it now.”
Spurs goalkeeper Vicario has enjoyed a fine campaign since he joined from Empoli in June, but he has also faced plenty of analysis on TV around his set-piece struggles with Match of the Day doing a segment on the issue on Sunday night.
Postecoglou added: “I think he has seen it as a challenge and again it is something even I am struggling with. I watched the Champions League last night and there was a couple of times they went in on the keeper and it was a foul straight away.
“I don’t know. It is a weird one for me. We’ve tried to get clarity on it and I don’t think there is clarity on it.
“It is just a challenge for him to overcome and he’s determined to do it. And I know he will because I know his mentality of not looking for excuses, but finding solutions through that. He will do that.”
