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Bent worried by fitness of Tottenham defender Vertonghen

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Sky Sports pundit Darren Bent is baffled by Jan Vertonghen’s fitness after the Tottenham centre-back failed to impress in his first appearance of the season at the weekend.

Vertonghen, 32, was back in Mauricio Pochettino’s starting line-up after missing the opening three matches but he could not help his side from blowing a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 against bitter rivals Arsenal at the Emirates.

Ex-Spurs striker Bent has questioned whether Vertonghen has suffered an injury that no one has been made aware of because he is struggling to explain why the Belgian is so unfit.

“He’s come into a high-profile game, frenetic pace. When he’s fit and playing, him and Toby [Alderweireld] are the best in the Premier League as a centre back pairing, but he’s not up to scratch, not up to full fitness yet,” Bent told Football Insider.

“It’s hard to come into a game when you haven’t played for so long. You just don’t know what’s going on. Is he injured, has he been injured? It’s so tough. There’s got to be something going on but for whatever we just don’t know why.

“I’m sure there’s a genuine reason.”

TIF Tactics

Tottenham are four games into the Premier League season, have won just once and have failed to keep a single clean sheet, so their defensive issues are not solely down to the situation surrounding Vertonghen.

However the Belgian’s display at Arsenal last week was worrying to say the least.

According to stats by WhoScored, the ex-Ajax defender attempted three tackles against the Gunners but failed to complete one of them, was dribbled past three times by the host’s attackers and only made two clearances compared to Alderweireld’s seven.

Arsenal’s attack has been in good form in the opening weeks of the campaign so it was always going to be difficult for Vertonghen to keep them at bay, but the usually reliable centre-back was nowhere near his best in the North London derby as Tottenham dropped two potentially invaluable points.

Vertonghen may just need to regain his match fitness to get back to his best.

Luckily he is in the Belgium squad that play against San Marino on Friday before taking on Scotland on Monday.

If he plays in those two matches and avoids injury, it could be very beneficial for Tottenham.

TIF Trivia

According to data by transfermarkt, Vertonghen missed 18 matches across all competitions last season with hamstring injuries.

He missed the final three matches of the Premier League season before returning to Pochettino’s starting line-up for the Champions League final defeat against Liverpool on June 1.

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