Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that James Maddison and Micky van de Ven are ‘nowhere near’ returning from injury for Tottenham.
The influential duo have each been absent since being substituted during the defeat to Chelsea on November 6, with Maddison ruled out for an extended period with an ankle issue.
Van de Ven’s hamstring problem also looks set to sideline the Dutch defender well into the new year, with Postecoglou unable to put a timeframe on either player’s return.
On a return date, Postecoglou said at his pre-Everton press conference: “Hard to say, they are both in rehab and nowhere near training with the first team.
“If you look at the timeline Micky and Madders [Maddison] did it in the same game. Micky might be ahead of schedule.
“You would like to give out information, but sometimes you cannot accelerate the final stage [of injury] and until I see them out with us [training] it is hard to say.”
There was positive news on Giovani Lo Celso, who is fit to feature. Ashley Phillips is also available for selection.
“Gio Lo Celso is back. He is fine and except from the suspended boys [Yves Bissouma and Destiny Udogie] we are missing, everyone else is OK.
“Gio has trained last couple of days and Ashley Phillips is also available.”
Spurs ended a run of five games without a win with back-to-back victories over Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, with Postecoglou insisting his injury-hit team are determined not to ‘derail’ their good start to the season.
“We have to deal with our own adversity and we are still dealing with it. Obviously we have had results which have not been great.
“The attitudes of players is really determined to not let us derail our season and we are still in a good position in the league.”
The North Londoners have been linked with a January move to sign Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo this week, but Postecoglou was coy on the club’s desire to do business.
“Don’t really know. January is a tricky month in terms of clubs doing business and we will be doing our background work. When the window opens we will see if we can make an impact.”
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