Our long national nightmare is finally over.
James Maddison is back for the first team practice for Tottenham Hotspurs! Celebrate! Spurs’ attacking midfield maestro has reportedly been in full training since the beginning of last week, nearly three months after suffering an ankle injury in that heartbreaking loss against Chelsea. It is expected that he will make his eagerly awaited return to match action in Friday’s home FA Cup tie against Manchester City.
Madders even stayed behind last week to improve his fitness as his teammates took off for a quick vacation during Tottenham’s week off, according to Jack Pitt-Brooke in The Athletic.
Pitt-Brooke writes about how devastating the injury was for Maddison — it was his longest injury to date and came at a time when he was playing some of the best football of his career. Now is the perfect time for him to return to the side, as Spurs desperately need him. With leading scorer (and City-slayer) Son Heung-Min away at the Asian Cup and Giovani Lo Celso still not back from an injury of his own, Spurs are somewhat bereft of creativity in midfield. As he showed during Tottenham’s hot start to the Premier League season, Maddison brings that in spades.
It’s not clear exactly in what capacity Maddison will participate in the City cup tie on Friday. Ange Postecoglou
isn’t exactly shy about putting players who have just recovered from an injury in the furnace; he has done so multiple times already. Thus, even if Maddison doesn’t play the entire ninety minutes, it’s likely that he will start in the starting lineup.
But given his necessity, I would anticipate seeing him. Spurs are undoubtedly Manchester City’s worst opponent because they have yet to score at their new stadium, but records are meant to be broken, so Spurs shouldn’t be ignoring this one. Nevertheless, you would have to assume that Madison and Tottenham would be among the favorites to win it all if they could defeat Manchester City and go to the FA Cup’s next round.
