Spurs team news: AVB discusses Rose, Eriksen, Chiriches, Vertonghen and Kaboul injuries

Danny Rose, Tottenham Hotspur EMPICS Sport

Danny Rose and Christian Eriksen are due to return from injury in tomorrow’s Europa League clash against Anzhi, while Vlad Chiriches’ knee injury is not as bad as the club first feared.

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However, Andre Villas-Boas has confirmed that Jan Vertonghen has damaged ligaments after rolling his ankle late in the game at Fulham last week, while the head coach admits he is concerned by Younes Kaboul’s ongoing fitness problems.

“At the moment there is obviously ankle ligament damage [for Vertonghen],” said the head coach. “We will have the player in a boot for one to two weeks to try to settle it.

“We want to avoid surgery so we will use PRP [blood-spinning] treatment to try to get him back as soon as possible. We’ve had outstanding results with PRP treatment and we will do that again now.

“Younes was supposed to be back in training but he had a small setback - but he should be back on Tuesday for training.

“It’s obviously a concern but there’s nothing we can do. Our conclusion is that, given the amount of injuries he has on his knees, his body is constantly adapting to new positions and straining muscles here and there.

“We have to be patient with him, trying to build him muscle-wise, and hopefully we can have him back.”

Spurs will consequently be missing two of their defenders at a busy time of the season - they face three home games in the next week against Anzhi, Liverpool and West Ham in the Europa League, Premier League and Capital One Cup quarter-finals respectively.

Villas-Boas is therefore relieved that Chiriches is likely to be available for the weekend after getting a worrying knock on his knee – and that Rose is finally ready to return to the rearguard after missing the last 17 games with a foot problem.

“We’ve had good news with Vlad,” said the head coach. “The swelling has gone down and there is a good possibility that he is going to be available for the game against Liverpool, but obviously not tonight.

“He took a heavy knock to the knee so his knee’s swollen up quite a lot. We’ve drained some blood from his knee, which was a bit scary because it could have meant that there was some damage - it’s the same knee that was operated on before.

“We’ve used PRP treatment on the knee and the player did very well so the swelling has gone down. There is a big possibility that’s it no more than a scare and that we’ll be able to have the player in for Liverpool.

“It has been our pattern in the Europa League to make seven, eight changes or more. It has worked well for us, we have the quality in our squad and we’ve got maximum points in the group so far.

“We will continue to do that. We will also look to give Danny Rose a couple of minutes in this game after his three-and-a-half month absence.

Villas-Boas added: “It was difficult to find the reason for Danny’s injuries and the appropriate treatment. We tried different approaches to the treatment, which the player reacted very slowly to.

“To be fair, it was a question of allowing time for the joint to heal, and this took so much time. Now it’s good news because we have him back, almost fit.

“Obviously he needs two or three games to get back to full fitness but it’s the first good opportunity for us to put him back in.

“Christian Eriksen is also selected for the game so there is a possibility that he can play some minutes, and we will also call up three of our youth players – Laste Dombaxe, Ryan Fredericks and Shaquile Coulthirst - to see if we can give them a chance of getting onto the pitch as well.”

There is little riding on tomorrow’s Europa League clash with Anzhi, given that Spurs have already topped their group and the visiting Russians have also secured early qualification in second place.

However, all eyes will be on White Hart Lane on Sunday as Tottenham host Liverpool, having won their last two Premier League games against Fulham and Sunderland.

“Those results have put us one point better off than what we had [at this stage] last season, so again it puts us back on track,” said Villas-Boas.

“We have this wonderful situation against Liverpool that if we win we go level on points with them - a team that has started so brilliantly - so straight away we have a comparison there.

“After all we have been through, to go level on points with a team that has been so magnificent shows that, in the end, we are not so far off.

“Also, bearing in mind the season before, it was in this fixture [last December] that we lost against Everton so, if we win, we will be four points better off than we were last season, which would be outstanding.”

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