Roberto De Zerbi has defended Tottenham’s medical department, insisting the club’s injury problems are a normal part of football and pointing to one World Cup winner’s early return as the real reason behind a recent setback.
Spurs have been plunged into two relegation battles over the past three seasons because so many key players were unavailable, so questions about the medical staff were always going to follow. With Chelsea next on the schedule and Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert still on the sidelines, the head coach was asked to give his view.
His answer was clear. De Zerbi does not believe the department deserves the blame, and he said so in strong terms.
De Zerbi on the Tottenham medical staff
“It’s football. I am convinced our medical staff this season is high level. I follow them. I believe in them,” De Zerbi said. “I have big confidence because I know how they are working and I think they are good enough to believe in them. We are suffering a normal situation in football.”
He also drew a line between the end of last season and this one. “I can say in the last six games [of last season] there were many, many injuries but the focus was totally different and this season we can speak about Pedro Porro’s injury,” he explained.
The message from the club was upbeat ahead of the trip across London, with Tottenham posting De Zerbi’s line that “we have the quality to play well and to win the game.”
“We have the quality to play well and to win the game.”
– Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 23, 2026
Watch Roberto De Zerbi preview our trip to Chelsea on the official Spurs app.
📲 https://t.co/xMyGgV7N1S pic.twitter.com/osb1I7cUVn
Why De Zerbi pins the Pedro Porro injury on his early return
The Porro case is the example De Zerbi leaned on. The right-back played at the World Cup and won it, and the manager believes the clock simply ran out on him at the start of this campaign.
“Pedro played at the World Cup. He won the World Cup. He came [back] after two or three weeks, maybe with the head or the body; he didn’t recover enough to start this season without the pre-season,” De Zerbi said.
The hamstring was the issue. “He already suffered in the World Cup the muscular problem of the hamstring. He felt it in the training session and played anyway against Aston Villa because he pushed to come back before the right time, and he suffered another injury. What is the responsibility of the medical staff?”
Porro is back for the Chelsea trip
The good news is that Porro is available again. De Zerbi confirmed in his pre-match press conference that the full-back is back, and he is expected to go straight into the XI on the right side of defence.
Author Opinion
To be fair to the gaffer, he has a point. A player who has just lifted the World Cup and is rushed through pre-season is always going to be a risk, and Porro, by De Zerbi’s own account, pushed himself to play before his body was ready.
It might all just be a mix of bad luck and unfortunate coincidences, but the Lilywhites need the injury list to shrink. With Simons and Odobert still out, the sooner the squad is fully fit under De Zerbi, the better.
