Tottenham left-back Destiny Udogie absent from training footage ahead of Wolves
Tottenham left-back Destiny Udogie was nowhere to be seen as the club posted footage from their first-team training session on Wednesday 14 February.
Udogie has been a standout performer for Ange Postecoglou this season, locking the left-back spot down as his own.
He has missed just three Premier League games all season, with two of those due to suspension while he was unavailable for the 2-1 win at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace on Friday 27 October as a result of a muscle injury.
However, there is now some cause for concern among supporters regarding Udogie’s injury status with Tottenham set to host Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday 17 February.
Udogie was brought off in the 80th minute of Spurs’ 2-1 home win against Brighton last time out (10 February).
After the match, Postecoglou was asked if there were any fresh injury concerns from the game and responded (via Football London, 10 February), “No I don’t think so. Destiny went off but I’m not sure if it was cramp, but everyone else was OK as far as I know.”
While the Australian sounded optimistic at first, footage posted by Spurs to their official X account on Wednesday 14 February won’t have done much to ease fans’ concerns.
The near-five minute video showcases the first-team stars at Hotspur Way preparing for the visit of Gary O’Neil’s side this weekend, but Udogie is nowhere to be seen.
Tottenham fans would be right to feel anxious
It would be hard to blame any Spurs fans for feeling slightly anxious about the prospect of Udogie not featuring on Saturday.
After his eye-catching performances this season, replacing the Italy international would be no easy task.
Against Brighton, he completed 100 per cent of his dribbles going forward and was strong defensively as he won five of his nine ground duels and made three tackles (Sofascore).
And that was arguably one of the 21-year-old’s least impressive performances of the season, which demonstrates just how high of a bar he has set at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
His two goals and three assists in the Premier League underpin Postecoglou’s attacking philosophy, with his most recent strike coming at a crucial time for Spurs as he equalised against Brentford in an eventual 3-2 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday 31 January.
It is fair to suggest that Udogie has been one of the best left-backs in the Premier League this year in what is his debut season in English football.
As per fbref, he has showcased quality in both attacking and defensive areas of the pitch, ranking in the top eight per cent of his positional peers in England’s top flight this season for the number of tackles he has made (3.07 per 90) as well as number of touches he has made in the attacking penalty area (3.07 per 90).
He has also impressed on the ball, sitting among the top seven per cent of Premier League left-backs for the number of carries he has made into the penalty area (0.82 per 90) and the top four per cent for the number of times he has carried the ball into the final third (2.50 per 90).
If he is unavailable for the game against Wolves, it will certainly hurt Spurs’ chances of collecting another three points, and supporters will be hopeful that his absence from the footage on Wednesday is just an unfortunate coincidence.
In other Tottenham news, Daniel Levy has pulled off another masterclass with Spurs set for a multi-million payday.
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