Tottenham Faces Double Setback Ahead of Carabao Cup Clash at Anfield
Tottenham’s build-up to a daunting Carabao Cup trip to Anfield has been jolted by a double setback and a simmering transfer saga that refuses to die.
Tonali and Porro ruled out, Udogie returns
Sandro Tonali and Pedro Porro will both miss the tie against Liverpool, leaving Roberto De Zerbi to reshuffle once again in a season that has barely begun.
Porro is still battling the muscular problem that kept him out of the goalless draw with Everton, his absence stripping Spurs of one of their main attacking outlets from right-back. Tonali, ever-present in the middle of the pitch so far, joined the injury list after picking up a knock in that same 0-0 stalemate.
There was at least one sliver of good news. Destiny Udogie is back.
The Italy international left-back, who sat out the Everton game, is set to return to the matchday squad. His comeback offers some balance to a back line missing Porro’s thrust from the opposite flank and gives De Zerbi at least one more senior option in a defence that will have to withstand Liverpool’s intensity at Anfield.
Richarlison saga overshadows cup plans
Injuries were only half the story. The pre-match press conference quickly turned into another chapter in the Richarlison stand-off.
Despite being omitted from Tottenham’s 25-man Premier League squad, the Brazilian remained eligible for the Carabao Cup, where registration rules are different. On paper, he could have been the wild card at Anfield.
De Zerbi shut that idea down immediately.
Asked directly if Richarlison might feature, the Italian’s response was blunt and final. “You already know everything. Nothing changed for the Carabao Cup or Premier League. The situation is the same,” he told reporters, making it clear that the forward’s status is frozen across all competitions.
He stressed that his remit stops at the pitch. He would talk about results, players in his squad, attacking spaces, defensive structure. Not the politics.
A contract offer rejected
De Zerbi then laid out the timeline of the breakdown. This was not a sudden fallout. It had been brewing since the start of the summer.
He revealed he had personally tried to keep Richarlison at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, going as far as proposing a contract extension at the beginning of the window. The answer was unequivocal.
“What I’ve done, at the beginning of this season, was to speak with him, and to propose an extension of the contract,” De Zerbi explained. “If he said no thank you, I have finished my job.”
From that point, the relationship shifted. Richarlison started the Premier League opener at Brentford, but the club later told him he could leave. A return to Everton never materialised, links to Trabzonspor went nowhere, and he rejected a move to Vasco da Gama on Friday. The stalemate hardened.
Goals missing, and so is their biggest Liverpool threat
On the pitch, his absence stings.
Tottenham are still searching for their first Premier League goal of the season. Now they head to Anfield without a striker who relishes this particular fixture.
Richarlison has scored four times in seven appearances against Liverpool for Spurs. He understands the chaos of these games, the fine margins, the hostility. That knack in front of goal will not be there for De Zerbi when his side walk out under the lights on Merseyside.
For a team already short of cutting edge, removing one of its proven big-game finishers is a heavy blow.
“I can’t go every day to pray for him”
De Zerbi was careful to frame the dispute not as a clash of egos, but as a structural issue between player and club. He hinted at a tense, complicated 45 days behind the scenes, but refused to spill the details.
“I know what happened in the last 45 days. It’s not right if I explained,” he said, underlining that the problem lies in the relationship between Richarlison and Tottenham as an institution. On this, coach and club are aligned.
At the start of the season, he spoke to the Brazilian “many times” to convince him to stay. Richarlison did not want to.
That, for De Zerbi, is the end of the road.
“I can’t go every day to pray for him to stay,” he concluded, drawing a line under any notion of a late reconciliation.
So Tottenham go to Anfield without Tonali, without Porro, and without the one forward who has made a habit of unsettling Liverpool. The injuries will heal. The question now is whether the rift with Richarlison ever does.
