£165k-per-week Tottenham star set to miss Liverpool with Micky van de Ven

Tottenham Hotspur are gearing up for a pivotal Carabao Cup semi-final second leg clash away to Liverpool this evening, and an injury update has come out of N17 ahead of the all-important encounter.

Ange Postecoglou set for biggest match of Tottenham career

Taking a 1-0 lead to Anfield from their first leg in north London, manager Ange Postecoglou is facing arguably the biggest game of his Spurs career to date, and the Australian has a major chance to guide the club to their first cup final since their 2021 Carabao Cup final defeat to Man City.

Postecoglou has stated that he always wins trophies in his second season, with this evening coming as a real opportunity for him to take another huge leap towards fulfilling that pledge.

Speaking ahead of the clash on Merseyside, Spurs’ head coach said that the fundamentals of their game will remain unchanged, but how they’ll manage the 90 minutes will differ from one of their weekly encounters in the Premier League.

“I think you need to embrace the challenge in front of you, and it’s very easy to say it’s just going to be another game because it’s not,” said Postecoglou ahead of Tottenham versus Liverpool.

“Everyone knows the consequences of it, both us and the opposition. We’re playing away from home and you know certainly their crowd will give them a great deal of energy, which we have to deal with.

“And it’s a cup game so there is a possibility of extra-time, a possibility of penalties, so all those things are factored into it, so you’re preparation and information is a little bit different and you want to make it into a big game because ultimately you need to understand behaviour in big games and what it means and how you can overcome the challenges. So, (preparation) changes a little bit.

“The fundamentals of how we play won’t change, but in terms of how we go about it will be a bit different.”

Tottenham will also still have a host of first-team players absent, including Micky van de Ven, with Postecoglou sharing an update on £165,000-per-week defender Cristian Romero and his availability as well.

Ange Postecoglou shares van de Ven and Romero injury update at Tottenham

As per the 59-year-old, van de Ven and Romero are ruled out of Tottenham’s clash with Liverpool, as they wish to take a cautionary approach in regard to re-introducing them for elite-level clashes against Premier League sides.

“In terms of availability from last week, everyone is fine and got through okay. So no issues there. Kevin [Danso] and Mathys [Tel] are both available. They have trained and are cleared to play so they are all good,” said Postecoglou.

“The rest of them, no one is available tomorrow. With Micky, and Romero to a certain extent, I kind of feel we have to be a bit more conservative with them. Micky got through the game alright but I don’t think he feels ready for that step up to the Premier League, the intensity of it. Same with Romero.

“After losing Radu for the rest of the season, which is really disappointing for him and for us, my view is and I made the decision that I don’t want to risk losing these guys. We are going to keep them ticking over in training and try to make sure they are absolutely ready without any more setbacks. The other guys are inching closer as well but similar sort of mindset with them.”

While both men will be sore misses again, Kevin Danso is almost certain to make his Lilywhites debut, with the Austrian potentially set to partner one of Archie Gray or Ben Davies in the centre of defence.