Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is facing a serious crisis in the middle of the park as Moussa Sissoko becomes another senior star to face weeks on the sidelines, according to the London Evening Standard.
The newspaper claim on their website that the Frenchman is expected to be ruled out until mid-February at the earliest after picking up a groin problem against Manchester United over the weekend, the same game in which Harry Kane picked up ankle ligament damage.
The report states that Sissoko’s absence, coupled with Mousa Dembele’s impending departure to China and injury problems for Victor Wanyama and Eric Dier, leaves Pochettino with just Harry Winks as a senior option in midfield, youngster Oliver Skipp now the second choice.
Opinion
When it rains, it absolutely buckets it down in north London. As if Kane’s problems were not a big enough pill for the Lilywhites to swallow, now Sissoko looks for a hefty spell on the sidelines leaving Pochettino in the lurch when it comes to his midfield options. There is no doubting that Winks is good enough to start for Spurs, having come on leaps and bounds since the start of last season, but the same cannot be said about young Skipp, who looks like a promising talent but by no means up to the standard of those missing from the side. The biggest issue is that with Sissoko, Wanyama and Dier out and Dembele set to leave, Pochettino just does not have a ball winner in that side, leaving the defence open to more attacks from the opposition. Neither Winks nor Skipp have the physical presence to carry out such a duty and so that has to be a real worry for the manager, especially with the League Cup semi-final second leg and Champions League knock out round on the near-horizon.