Tottenham Hotspur head into Monday night’s meeting with Coventry carrying a familiar mix of frustration and hope. The frustration comes from two fresh injury blows, with Lucas Bergvall and Savio both ruled out for weeks, leaving Roberto De Zerbi with another midfield reshuffle just when his squad seemed to be finding some rhythm. The hope, though, is genuine and emotional: Dejan Kulusevski is back. After roughly a year and a half on the sidelines with a persistent knee problem, the Swedish international has been cleared to rejoin the matchday squad, and he is named among the substitutes for the 8pm UK kick-off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. That news alone changes the mood around the club, even if De Zerbi was careful not to promise too much too soon. There is also a hint of light at the end of the tunnel for Pedro Porro, whose hamstring issue is not as serious as first feared. The right-back may be able to return for the Chelsea clash on 24 October. In other words, the Coventry game is less about a statement performance and more about managing bodies, protecting players, and perhaps giving one long-suffering footballer a moment he has waited an eternity to feel again.
The injury list, as always, tells its own story, and the two newest names on it are particularly annoying because both arrived at the worst possible time. Savio felt a muscular problem on Tuesday, just before the squad flew out to Marbella for a warm-weather training camp. De Zerbi explained it plainly: “Unfortunately Savio on Tuesday, before we left for Marbella, felt a muscular problem and we’ve lost him for some weeks.” That is a genuine blow for a player who was starting to show flashes of the creativity and directness Spurs need in the final third. Bergvall’s issue is different and a little stranger. He picked up a knee problem early in the match at Old Trafford, yet somehow completed the full game. It was only the next day that he reported the pain to the medical staff, and De Zerbi’s own words were slightly contradictory depending on which report you read. Sports Mole have him saying “I think two weeks,” while Yahoo’s version quotes him as saying “some weeks for sure.” Either way, the midfielder is not available for the immediate future, and the club’s own expected-return date is being treated with caution. The Fantasy Premier League site has both Bergvall and Savio listed as expected back on 7 November, but that date was only added at 13:00 UTC on the day of this article, and it is an estimate rather than a club-confirmed prognosis. It could easily shift, so Spurs fans would be wise to take it with a large pinch of salt.
The midfield depth is being stretched at exactly the wrong moment. Before the news broke, our predicted lineup for the Coventry fixture had Bergvall starting, and that plan now obviously needs a rethink. With Rodrigo Bentancur suspended for the first of three games, De Zerbi is suddenly short of central options. Bentancur’s absence is a major factor, because the Uruguayan brings a calm, disruptive presence in front of the back four, and without him the team can look a little too open in transition. Add Savio and Bergvall to that, and the manager is effectively being forced to improvise in the engine room. On the bright side, the bench will include Kulusevski, and even a late cameo would lift the crowd and give the team a emotional boost. But De Zerbi was keen to manage expectations. “Kulusevski on the bench,” he confirmed. “We had a meeting with the medical staff and they gave the okay and it’s great news. He deserves to feel emotion on the pitch.” Those words carry weight. Anyone who has followed Kulusevski’s career knows how much he enjoys playing, how much he thrives on the noise of a stadium and the simple thrill of chasing a ball. To be denied that for seventeen months would be soul-crushing for any professional. The fact he is even close to returning is a testament to his patience and the club’s medical team, and it would be no surprise if Monday night’s introduction, even for ten minutes, produces one of the warmest receptions of the season.
The rest of the fitness bulletin is a mixed bag. Pedro Porro, as expected, misses Coventry with a hamstring injury, but De Zerbi sounded cautiously optimistic about the weekend. “Pedro Porro I think is coming,” he said, adding “Maybe against Chelsea he can play.” That fixture is on Saturday 24 October at 5:30pm UK time, and the FPL site also lists Porro as expected back on that date, which at least suggests some alignment. His return would be significant, because Porro offers something no other Spurs full-back quite replicates: that whip of a cross from the right, the willingness to arrive in the box late, and the engine to get up and down the flank for ninety minutes. Without him, the right side loses some of its bite. Bentancur, as mentioned, is suspended for this one and the next two matches, with the FPL site showing him back on 7 November. Beyond that, Sports Mole lists Xavi Simons, Odobert and Mudryk as already out – Simons and Odobert with knee problems, Mudryk with an ankle issue. None of those three have a confirmed return date, which means De Zerbi is working with a smaller squad than he would like. The positive spin is that this gives younger players and fringe figures a chance to stake a claim. The negative spin is obvious: the schedule does not get kinder, and every week without a full-strength squad is a week lost in the race for European places.
For Fantasy Premier League managers, this news is more of a quiet nuisance than a crisis. Savio, priced at £6.5m, and Bergvall, at £5.3m, both show a 0% chance of playing in the FPL API, and neither is heavily owned, so the impact on the wider game is minimal. Kulusevski’s flag still reads 75%, but that looks like a stale entry from July, before his long-term injury was fully understood. Don’t read it as a guarantee he will feature, and certainly don’t bring him into your team expecting a big haul against Coventry. A place on the bench means a late cameo at most, and De Zerbi is more likely to protect him for the Chelsea match, where his quality could be needed for a longer spell. The real FPL lesson here is to look ahead rather than chase short-term noise. The fixtures guide for gameweeks 8 to 12 will give a clearer picture of which Spurs players are worth investing in, and with Porro potentially back for Chelsea and Bentancur returning in November, the squad is not going to be depleted forever. Patience is the key.
There is, of course, a bigger question that goes beyond fantasy football. Monday’s game against Coventry, live on Sky Sports from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at 8pm UK time, is a chance for Spurs to build momentum before a tough run of fixtures. The result matters, but so does the manner of the performance, especially with so many key players unavailable. Should De Zerbi give Kulusevski meaningful minutes against Coventry or save him entirely for Chelsea? It is a tricky call. A short run-out could do wonders for his confidence and give the fans a reason to cheer. But it also risks aggravating a knee that has already caused eighteen months of misery. The manager’s cautious tone suggests he will err on the side of safety, and that feels like the right approach. The bigger picture is about getting Kulusevski back to his best, not rushing him for the sake of one game. For now, the sight of him on the bench, in the kit, ready to be called upon, is progress enough. The return date is not a fixed point; it is a process, and Monday night is just the next step in it.