Tottenham's Injury Woes Impacting Creativity
Tottenham finally have a Premier League point on the board. They still don’t have a goal.
A goalless draw at Nottingham Forest stopped the early-season slide after 3-0 and 2-0 defeats to Brentford and Newcastle, but it underlined the obvious: Roberto De Zerbi’s side are badly short of craft in the final third.
With both of Spurs’ No10s missing, the gap between midfield and attack yawned open again at the City Ground. Conor Gallagher and Mateus Fernandes worked, chased and pressed, yet never truly stitched the play together. The structure was there. The spark wasn’t.
There is at least some light on the horizon.
Maddison edging towards long-awaited return
James Maddison remains out after damaging his shoulder against Brentford on the opening day, another setback in a brutal run that has already seen him fight back from an ACL injury last year.
He featured off the bench at the Gtech Community Stadium as he tried to build sharpness, but he did not travel to Forest. The mood around his recovery has shifted, though. Maddison is now back in full team training and, for the first time this season, there is genuine optimism inside the camp that his comeback is close.
If all goes to plan, Tottenham hope to have him available when Everton visit north London on September 12, 2026. For a side starved of invention, that date is already circled.
Kulusevski’s stop-start road back
Dejan Kulusevski is also back on the grass, but his journey is proving more complicated.
The Swede is returning from a serious patella injury that has kept him out for almost 18 months, and Spurs are taking no risks. De Zerbi revealed before the Forest draw that the former Juventus winger had suffered a minor setback just as he was stepping up his workload.
“Kulusevski started [training] with us at the beginning of the week, and then the last two days, a small, small problem, stopped [him from training],” the head coach explained. “But I think he’s in a good way. It’s going very well. I already said the medical staff is very high level. We can be positive with him. I’m looking forward to having Deki in the squad.”
For now, there is no firm return date. The plan is simple: build him up, keep him on the pitch, and avoid another long spell on the sidelines.
Simons ruled out until 2027
If Maddison and Kulusevski offer some hope, the news around Xavi Simons is far more brutal.
The Dutch playmaker tore his ACL against Wolves in April last season and will miss the rest of this year. His absence has stripped Spurs of yet another option between the lines at a time when the No10 role already looks alarmingly bare.
Simons has still been visible around the group in a supporting role, but he will not be seen in competitive action until early 2027 at the earliest. For a team crying out for guile, that is a heavy loss.
Odobert closer to the finish line
Wilson Odobert finds himself on a similar path to Simons, but with a more encouraging timeline.
The French winger also suffered an ACL tear last term, yet his recovery is further advanced. Spurs believe he has a realistic chance of featuring again before the turn of the year, with a potential return pencilled in for late 2026.
His pace and direct running could offer a different route to goal for a side currently trying to pass their way through packed defences without the players best suited to doing it.
Savio and Destiny Udogie, both managed carefully at Forest and withdrawn around the hour mark, emerged without fresh issues. That at least spared De Zerbi another addition to an already frustrating injury list.
Tottenham have their first point. They are still hunting their first goal. The question now is whether the cavalry in the treatment room can arrive in time to change the story of this season.
