Credit: Imago

Richie Mills

Sat 25 April 2026 10:00, UK

Tottenham Hotspur boss Roberto De Zerbi must think he’s cursed following a number of injury setbacks to key personnel.

Before the Italian had taken charge of his first game, Mohammed Kudus was ruled out for the season and then captain Cristian Romero followed in Tottenham’s loss at Sunderland.

While Rodrigo Bentancur is back fit and available, Spurs still haven’t been able to call upon arguably two of their best attacking players in James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski.

The pair have missed the entire campaign with respective knee injuries and while Maddison was an unused substitute against Brighton, a first-team return still eludes him.

Ahead of relegation-threatened Spurs’ crunch clash with Wolves, De Zerbi has issued a worrying Tottenham squad update.

Tottenham injury woes continue

In his pre-match press conference on Friday, De Zerbi confirmed that Destiny Udogie will miss the Molineux encounter on Saturday due a minor muscular problem.

He could, however, be back for the trip to Aston Villa on 3 May. Moreover, De Zerbi said Maddison is experiencing complications with his comeback and hinted that Kulusevski may not play at all this season.

On Maddison, De Zerbi said: “He is not available yet, especially in this week. He felt pain but not so important problem. Tomorrow he will come with us on the bench because he is important if he plays or not it doesn’t matter.

“Better if he plays, for sure, but as a guy, as a leader, he is a positive guy. Inside of my dressing room I want to see nice people, positive people and this is important also for his team-mates.

“I’m sorry for him [Kulusevski] because he was one of my perfect players. He’s a very specific player for me, like Kudus, like Romero.

“But I hope for him that he can play in the World Cup [with Sweden] because the World Cup for a player is a moment. It’s the best period of their career. But I don’t know the situation very well.”

For all of the quality at their disposal, Tottenham should not be in the relegation zone. But their frailties have been plain to see this season.

De Zerbi said Spurs’ problems are more mental than anything else, as he tries to close the gap to 17th-placed West Ham, who are two points clear. The 46-year-old is a very capable coach. But he has been dealt a rough hand in what is the toughest test of his career.

Tottenham’s underwhelming record at Wolves

Tottenham have failed to beat Wolves in their last six meetings in the Premier League, with the Midlands outfit winning four and drawing two.

The north London team have lost their last three away games at Wolves, as many as they had in their previous 16 visits to Molineux.

Chris Sutton has backed Tottenham to end their 15-game winless run but if they don’t do that, the ex-striker thinks Spurs’ race is run.

In the last two seasons, Wolves and Tottenham have suffered the most Premier League defeats at 42 and 38 respectively.

While Wolves are already down, Tottenham need to fight tooth and nail to ensure they don’t follow the same fate.