Tottenham face huge selection crisis with 13 stars out ahead of crunch Dortmund clash

Under-pressure Tottenham boss Thomas Frank faces a huge selection headache as his side face Borussia Dortmund in a crucial Champions League game on Tuesday night.

After another home loss to relegation-threatened West Ham at the weekend, the Dane’s role as Spurs boss is looking increasingly untenable.

The result left Spurs sitting in 14th in the Premier League table with just two wins from 11 home games this season.

Despite this poor form, the 52-year-old is still set to be in the dugout for the Spurs game against Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday night in what is set to be a massive game for Frank’s future in north London.

However, victory over the German side looks an increasingly uphill task, with Spurs facing an alarming selection crisis ahead of the crucial Champions League clash.

Tottenham missing 13 players for Dortmund game

As if things couldn’t get any worse for Frank, his side is looking pretty thin as they prepare to face off against the 2024 Champions League finalists.

With the news that defender Ben Davies suffered a fractured ankle in their derby loss at the weekend, Tottenham’s list of absentees now stands at a staggering 15 players.

The Welsh international joins his teammates James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Mohammed Kudus, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Richarlison on the injury table.

Xavi Simons was in the wars against West Ham but is expected to play through the pain, though the same cannot be said of Archie Gray and Joao Palhinha, who are doubts to face Dortmund.

Centre back Micky Van de Ven is also suspended after picking up another yellow card in their 3-0 victory over Sparta Prague back in December.

New signing Conor Gallagher does not help ease Tottenham’s concerns either, with the English international cup-tied due to his participation in the competition with Atletico Madrid earlier this season.

Pape Sarr is also unavailable for the home side after scoring the winner in Senegal’s dramatic AFCON final win over Morocco, whilst Yves Bissouma and Radu Dragusin were not registered for the Champions League back in September.

Thomas Frank confirms Dominic Solanke boost ahead of CL game

One boost for Spurs is that Dominic Solanke will be available to face Dortmund.

The English international had been absent from Spurs’ Champions League games this season after an early-season injury meant Frank opted for Mathys Tel as his forward option instead.

However, during Frank’s press conference ahead of the game, the 52-year-old confirmed Solanke had been re-added to their Champions League squad ahead of the Dortmund game.

That’s because UEFA rules stipulate that a team can bring in a squad substitute if a player has been ill or injured for 60 days, meaning the striker takes his place back from Tel in the side.

The former Bournemouth man recently made his return as a substitute against Aston Villa earlier this month.

Tottenham top injury table this season

However, taking into account all the injuries, suspensions and registration conundrums, Thomas Frank has said he will have just 11 outfield players to choose from against Dortmund.

Since losing Maddison to a season-ending ACL injury in pre-season, Spurs’ injury luck has gone from bad to worse.

In fact, only six Premier League teams currently have more players missing through injury than Tottenham (6).

Meanwhile, Spurs’ record of days lost to injury is the highest in the league (1011), nearly 700 days more than the lowest-ranked club, Fulham (342).

Whilst Thomas Frank has his critics, bad luck with injuries has certainly not helped his start at Tottenham this season.