Tottenham Hotspur are set to be without captain Cristian Romero and midfielder Joao Palhinha for Sunday’s visit to Liverpool after the pair clashed heads towards the end of Tuesday’s Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid.
It has been confirmed that both players are undergoing concussion protocols and will therefore miss the game in a fresh blow to beleaguered interim head coach Igor Tudor.
The duo collided in stoppage-time of Spurs’ 5-2 defeat in the Spanish capital in the last 16 first leg and were treated for several minutes on the pitch.
Romero tried to continue but quickly went down again, while Palhinha stayed off the pitch, leaving Spurs to finish the game with nine men because Tudor had already made all five of his available substitutions — including replacing goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky in the 17th minute after two mistakes leading to Atleti goals.
Tudor also confirmed that Yves Bissouma will miss the game with a muscle injury, and said fellow midfielder Conor Gallagher has been suffering with a fever, admitting he had “a lot of problems” in naming a competitive XI on Merseyside.
“This is how it is in this club,” he told a news conference on Friday. “This happens all the time. We start to build something and then something happens, a red card or three or four injuries.
“This is very rare it happen. In my career I never see this situation like every game missing two players and the next game, then a red card. Very rare and very unusual but we need to accept it and try to change the things you can change. On these things you can do nothing.”
Romero will miss a fifth league game in a row, having been suspended for the past four matches after being shown his second straight red card of the season in the 2-0 defeat to Manchester United on February 7, Thomas Frank’s penultimate game as Spurs head coach.
With Micky van de Ven suspended after being sent off against Crystal Palace last time out and Ben Davies among Spurs’ long-term injury absentees, Tudor will only have two senior centre-backs available at Anfield in Kevin Danso and Radu Dragusin.
Tudor has favoured a back three in his four games in charge — all defeats — since succeeding Frank and deployed full-back Pedro Porro more centrally in the 3-1 defeat to Palace last weekend.
James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Lucas Bergvall, Wilson Odobert, Mohammed Kudus, Rodrigo Bentancur and Destiny Udogie are also sidelined.
Spurs have lost six matches in a row in all competitions for the first time in their history, and are aiming for their first league win since December against Liverpool. They could sink into the relegation zone for the first time this season if West Ham United beat Manchester City on Saturday and Spurs fail to win at Anfield.