Fears were realized. James Maddison (27, Tottenham) was out and Son Heung-min (31, Tottenham) was in.
Tottenham were unable to protect Brennan Johnson’s opener and suffered a 1-2 reverse at Wolverhampton in the 12th round of the 2023-24 Premier League at Molineux Stadium in the West Midlands, England, at 9:30 p.m. ET on Nov. 11.
With their second straight defeat, Tottenham (8W2D2L, 26 points) dropped to third place, behind Manchester City (27 points) and Arsenal (26 points).
Son Heung-min vs. Hwang Hee-chan: The first matchup of the season between the two South Korean strikers. With eight goals, Son is tied for second in the league with Mohamed Salah behind Elling Holland (11). Hwang Hee-chan had scored in six consecutive home games.
As a result, both players were very much in the spotlight, but the goals didn’t come. Son Heung-min, in particular, 먹튀검증 struggled with 0 shots on target. He struggled to create chances for his teammates, but he was uncharacteristically ineffective.
There was a reason for this.
Against Chelsea, Tottenham received a direct red card for a rough challenge on center back Christian Romero. Nine minutes into the second half, fullback Destiny Udoji was also sent off for accumulating cautions, leaving them 1-4 down.
In addition, midfield stalwart James Maddison was forced off with an ankle injury. To add insult to injury, another central defender, Mickey van der Vaart, was forced off at the start of the second half.
Against Wolverhampton, Tottenham started without three of their first-choice defenders. He had to undergo surgery. There was also no striker to replace Son Heung-min. Heung-min played the entire game, but he couldn’t do much on his own.
Especially Madison’s absence was too much, as she was the one to deliver the kill pass to Son Heung-min. Heung-min was often left to play as a linker in the midfield or isolated up front. It wasn’t until the 43rd minute that Son finally got his first shot on goal, but it was off target.
The bigger problem is that there are no signs of Tottenham getting better going forward. Maddison is not expected to return until January.
“Maddison’s condition is more serious than we thought,” said Spurs manager Enzi Postecoglou. She had a scan the day after the injury and it wasn’t good. I don’t think she’ll be back until next year,” he despaired.
That means Maddison could return to action against United on January 15 at the earliest. Spurs have a whopping eight games to play before then. That means Spurs, currently in third place, could fall much further.