Tottenham confirm another injury blow ahead of Liverpool semi-final as 'tricky' Cristian Romero update given

Tottenham Hotspur have suffered another new injury blow ahead of their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Liverpool.

The Reds welcome Spurs to Anfield on Thursday as they trail 1-0 on aggregate. Arne Slot’s side’s defeat in North London last month came as somewhat of a surprise given they earned an enthralling 6-3 against Tottenham in the Premier League only several weeks earlier.

Spurs have been in woeful form since and lost their past four top-flight fixtures - leaving them 15th in the table. Injuries have been a factor why Ange Postecoglou’s side have been misfiring.

They did welcome back key centre-back Mickey van de Ven for a 3-0 win over Elfsborg in the Europa League earlier this week. But they are now sweating on the fitness of fellow defender Radu Dragusin, who has a knee issue. Ahead of Tottenham’s game against Brentford on Sunday, head coach Postecoglou said: “We'll let it settle down and obviously get some information over the weekend. Not available for the weekend at the moment and we just have to see the extent of it.

“Hard to tell. It's a knee, so we've got to let it settle down. There's always concern when there's a knee injury but we don't know the extent.”

As things stand, Tottenham have nine players on the treatment table. Players are soon set to return, but are unlikely to be available against Liverpool. Key centre-half Cristian Romero is still struggling with a hamstring problem and appears he will not be back. Postecoglou said: “It’s just a slower healer with him and it is one we are looking at on a week to week basis. Again, he has been out for quite a while. Like with all the other long term ones, we are just taking our time.”

Dominic Solanke is sidelined for several weeks with a knee problem. No.1 goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, Brennan Johnson, James Maddison, Timo Werner and Wilson Odobert are all close to being back in training but may not be ready to face Liverpool.

Postecoglou said: “They are all kind of around the same time, around 10 days time. We are talking about Vicario, Johnson, Destiny, Wilson, Timo. Romero is a bit of a tricky one. We are not really sure yet. There is still some work he needs to do.

“Certainly, all those guys, I think of the long term ones apart from Dom (Solanke) who is probably a week behind them, the rest of them are slated to be back in the next week to 10 days to be available.”

Liverpool, meanwhile, could have just Curtis Jones unavailable to face Spurs. Joe Gomez is now back in training after a hamstring injury while Diogo Jota is also again involved in sessions. It remains to be seen whether the pair will be involved in today’s clash against AFC Bournemouth. Darwin Nunez could return from illness Head coach Arne Slot said: All three of them are in training today so then the question is, ‘Are they already far enough to join us towards Bournemouth?’

“That’s something we have to wait and see today because we have probably also more than 20 players available. We always have more than 20 available but the ones that are mostly there. So, we have to make the smartest decision for them, but also for winning the game tomorrow.”