Tottenham Team News: Sandro Tonali Out of Liverpool Cup Clash as Roberto De Zerbi Manages Spurs Fitness

Tottenham head to Anfield for the Carabao Cup without Sandro Tonali, and that matters. The £100 million summer signing has a knock and will miss Tuesday night’s tie against Liverpool, another selection problem for Roberto De Zerbi as he tries to keep a fragile squad on the pitch.

The Spurs head coach was direct about it. “There is no Sandro Tonali because he felt a knock.” No spin, no mystery. Tonali is out, and for a side still trying to find rhythm early in the season, that is a clear blow.

Tonali absence adds to Tottenham injury issues

Pedro Porro is also unavailable, while Destiny Udogie has recovered enough to travel. De Zerbi confirmed the situation plainly, saying: “Pedro is still not available. Udogie, yes [he is available].”

That gives Spurs one problem solved and another still hanging there. Udogie missed the 0-0 draw with Everton as a precaution, part of a wider effort to control his workload after previous muscle injuries. Porro, meanwhile, remains sidelined with what had been described as a minor muscle issue.

There is also no immediate return for Dejan Kulusevski. He has been absent since the end of the 2024-25 season with a serious kneecap problem, and he remains some distance from first-team football.

Roberto De Zerbi leaning on sports science

This is not accidental. Tottenham spent the summer reshaping their medical and performance structure after last season’s injury chaos nearly dragged them into the Championship. Dan Lewindon is overseeing that rebuild, with Ali James, Tom Tombleson and Agostino Tibaudi all added to key roles.

The idea is simple enough. Better monitoring, better planning, fewer breakdowns. Minutes are being managed carefully, and substitutions are increasingly part of that plan. Udogie was taken off around the hour mark against Nottingham Forest, while Rodrigo Bentancur and Mateus Fernandes were both withdrawn shortly after the hour against Everton.

Liverpool test comes at awkward moment

Whether those changes were all medically driven was not fully explained, but the pattern is obvious. Tottenham are trying to avoid repeating the mess of last season. The problem is that this approach can leave them short in the short term.

Against Liverpool, Spurs will need control, discipline and enough physical resilience to stay in the game. Without Tonali and Porro, that task gets harder. With Udogie back, at least De Zerbi has one less headache. Right now, that counts as progress.

More on Tottenham’s latest injury picture and squad management can be found via the original report.