Tottenham midfielder James Maddison is available for Saturday’s match against Crystal Palace, manager Roberto De Zerbi has confirmed, despite limping off at Chelsea last week. The club are nonetheless weighing how much risk to take with a player who has had a difficult run of injuries. According to Bbc.com.
Maddison available for Palace, but De Zerbi still weighing the risk
Maddison limped off in the 51st minute of Spurs’ 2-0 victory at Chelsea, and De Zerbi says he did not work like the other players this week. The manager nonetheless confirmed the midfielder is available for the visit of Palace, calling him “a special player for us”.
De Zerbi explained that players returning from a long injury have to work more than their team-mates, and said Maddison has already put in four or five weeks of hard, consistent effort. Missing two days of training is therefore not a problem in his view, though he added that the club must still analyse whether to take the risk.
The scare carried extra weight given Maddison’s recent history. The 29-year-old England international missed the majority of last season with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, then fractured his shoulder in Tottenham’s opening weekend defeat at Brentford this season. He has won seven caps for England.
Maddison returned to the starting line-up earlier this month and scored a spectacular goal in a 3-1 win against Coventry. Tottenham have since beaten both Coventry and Chelsea, and the club are now 14th in the Premier League after climbing out of the relegation zone.
Maddison joined Tottenham from Leicester City in 2023 on a five-year contract in a deal worth £40m. He has scored 17 goals and provided 21 assists in 85 appearances for the north London club. That output underlines what Tottenham stand to lose if the risk is misjudged.
