James Maddison Cleared for Tottenham vs Crystal Palace
James Maddison will be ready to go for Tottenham on Saturday. The limp at Stamford Bridge was alarming, the history even more so, but Roberto De Zerbi has drawn a firm line under any doubts: his playmaker is available.
The 29-year-old was forced off in the 51st minute of Spurs’ 2-0 win at Chelsea, a sight that instantly dragged memories back to last season’s nightmare. Maddison missed the bulk of that campaign with a serious anterior cruciate ligament injury, the kind that lingers in the mind long after the surgeon has done his work.
Then came this season’s early blow. On the opening weekend at Brentford he fractured his shoulder in a defeat that set an ominous tone for Tottenham’s start. The club’s marquee creator, sidelined again. Their rhythm, broken again.
But Maddison returned to the starting XI earlier this month and did what footballers of his type are supposed to do: he changed the mood. A spectacular strike in a 3-1 win over Coventry announced that the old swagger was still there, that the No 10 still had his touch and his nerve.
So when he hobbled off at Chelsea, concern spread quickly.
De Zerbi, though, cut through that anxiety when asked about Maddison’s fitness for the visit of Crystal Palace.
“He will be available,” the Tottenham manager said, before underlining just how central the midfielder has become to his plans. “This week he didn't work like the other players, but for tomorrow he is available and he is a special player for us.”
There was no attempt to disguise the reality of a long road back from serious injury. De Zerbi knows players like Maddison cannot simply be wrapped in cotton wool if they are to reach their best again.
“For James Maddison or the players who are coming from a long injury, they have to work more than the other players,” he explained. “But he has already four or five weeks – he is working very hard and consistently.
“So, I think it's not a problem if he loses two days [training], but then we have to analyse if we take the risk or not.”
That is the balance Tottenham must strike now. Maddison’s quality is obvious; so is his importance. Since his return to the starting line-up, Spurs have stitched together back-to-back wins over Coventry and Chelsea, steadying a season that had begun to tilt in the wrong direction.
Those victories have hauled the club out of the relegation zone and up to 14th in the Premier League. It is not where Tottenham expected to be when Maddison arrived from Leicester City in 2023 on a five-year deal worth £40m, but it is at least a platform.
Across 85 appearances for the north London side, Maddison has delivered 17 goals and 21 assists, numbers that underline why De Zerbi is prepared to manage his workload carefully rather than rush him or rest him entirely.
Tottenham’s climb has only just begun. Palace at the weekend offers another step, and once again, all eyes will be on the man in the No 10 shirt whose fitness has come to mirror the club’s own fragile resurgence.
