Tottenham learn extent of Emerson Royal knee injury

Tottenham defender Emerson Royal is expected to miss at least six weeks of action as he prepares to undergo surgery on a knee injury.

The Spurs right-back had a slow start to life in England but put on some excellent performances in recent weeks ahead of linking up with the Brazil squad during the international break.

The 24-year-old started Saturday's friendly defeat to Morocco and was on track to complete the full 90 minutes, only for a late ankle injury to force him off in the dying embers.

According to football.london, Emerson will need surgery on the injury and is due to be out until May.

The right-back will, therefore, sit out each of Spurs' six Premier League games in April, the last three of which are against Newcastle, Manchester United and Liverpool, as well as the first two matches of May against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa.

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Spurs would then have just two games remaining of the season, against Brentford on 20 May and Leeds eight days later on 28 May.

Emerson's absence will leave interim boss Cristian Stellini and assistant Ryan Mason with a headache at right-back, with January signing Pedro Porro the only fit option in the squad.

Porro has been excellent in recent weeks but the lack of rotation options heading into a hectic part of the campaign could prove a major problem for Stellini, who also has to contend with issues on the other side of his defence.

Ben Davies is facing a similar spell on the sidelines, and with Ryan Sessegnon not yet fully fit, that leaves just Ivan Perisic as healthy options for the left-back spot.

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On this edition of Oh What a Night, part of the 90min podcast network, Sean Walsh & Jude Summerfield discuss the issues at Tottenham Hotspur and who is to blame for where the club find themselves. If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!