Ange Postecoglou provides injury updates on key Tottenham trio

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou expects to be without Dominic Solanke for six weeks with the knee injury he sustained in training after the north London derby.

The 27-year-old added to Spurs' extensive injury list ahead of last Sunday's 3-2 defeat to Everton, which added further pressure onto Postecoglou after a torrid run of results.

Postecoglou's resources have been severely depleted in recent weeks and months, with only 13 first-team players fit for the vital 3-2 win over Hoffenheim in the Europa League on Thursday night, and the immediate picture doesn't look bright for £55m signing Solanke.

"All the information now is kind of we’re looking at around the six-week mark for him," Postecoglou said of his stricken striker post-match. "No surgery, but maybe we can get him back a little bit earlier, we’ll just see how he progresses, but at this stage it’s only around six weeks."

Elaborating further, ahead of the weekend clash with Leicester City in the Premier League, the Greek-Australian said of whether or not the blow had affected transfer plans: "All those things are known, nothing's changed in the last 24 hours.

"We kind of knew with Dom probably a few days back and we've had a press conference in the meantime. All these things are known and nothing has changed the last 24 hours that changes that part of it."

Other key absentees for Tottenham include centre-back duo Romero and Van de Ven, who have been sidelined for a considerable amount of time. And while they are edging closer to a return to action, Postecoglou confirmed it'll be a little while longer before they can offer some respite to a backline that has seen Archie Gray deployed as an emergency centre-back.

"No. Like I said, we got him back training," Postecoglou replied, asked specifically over whether Romero was in contention to face Leicester. "Him and Micky are the next cabs off the rank in terms of the long-term ones. They've still got a bit to do in terms of getting some training into them with the team.

"Obviously we haven't been training a lot and because the other day was sort of low tempo session, it was just good to get him involved, not just for him but the players involved because they need a bit of help and encouragement and Cuti training with them gives them a big lift.

"Micky's not too far away. These players will come back, knock on wood they're not deceased, they're just injured, so they will be all back so it's not all doom and gloom. It's good to see for the players as he's joined in training the last couple of days but he's still got a bit of work to do."

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