Postecoglou shares Tottenham injury blow ahead of Manchester United EFL Cup tie
Pedro Porro may well come back into the Tottenham starting line-up against Manchester United amid an injury update shared by Ange Postecoglou.
The Spurs manager confirmed on the eve of Thursday’s (19 December) EFL Cup quarter-final that left-back Destiny Udogie is still nursing an injury.
As per The Athletic [18 December], Udogie is a “doubt” for the match, having hobbled off in the first half of the 5-0 win over Southampton on Sunday (15 December) – a game that saw a number of players step up.
That will likely see Porro restored to the backline, possibly alongside Radu Dragusin, Archie Gray and Djed Spence.
It means an opportunity for Porro to stake a claim to grab his starting spot back, which he will hope to grab with both hands.
Pedro Porro set to start for Tottenham v Manchester United
The Spaniard helped Spurs see out the most routine of victories against Southampton, showcasing his talents at both ends of the field.
Better known for his attacking qualities, Porro created one key chance at the weekend [WhoScored] and had 63 touches of the ball.
Despite the fact he was only introduced nearly a third of the way into the contest, only four other Tottenham players registered more touches.
Porro was also tidy enough in possession with an 85 per cent passing accuracy, which is an increase on his average of 75 per cent over the past 12 months [FBref].
Indeed, that tally puts him in the bottom 26 percentile of full-backs across Europe’s top five leagues, making that a weak point.
Defensively, Porro registered one interception and one clearance, although it has to be factored in those tallies are particularly low due to how poor Southampton were in an attacking sense.
With four direct goal contributions in the Premier League this season, there is certainly no doubting his ability to change a game in Tottenham’s favour.
His 1.5 key passes per game, as per WhoScored, is also bettered only by James Maddison (1.6), Son Heung-min (2.2) and Dejan Kulusevski (2.3).
Assuming Porro does start against Manchester United, it is a chance for him to show those attacking qualities but he must also be alert defensively.
Should he play his part in progression to the semi-finals, it will give Postecoglou some food for thought.
In other Tottenham news, Spurs have been backed to sign off on a new £50million documentary.
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