Tottenham star Micky van de Ven breaks silence on injury return ahead of Aston Villa

Micky van de Ven has posted online after he was forced off with injury early on in Tottenham's 2-1 win over Manchester City on Wednesday. The Dutchman was only able to complete 13 minutes of the Carabao Cup fourth round tie.

Almost exactly one year on from suffering a hamstring injury that ruled him out for over two months last season, a hamstring problem has arisen once again for Van de Ven. The 23-year-old had to be treated and helped on the pitch by physios before hobbling off.

He appeared to be in tears as he made way. Van de Ven has had hamstring issues in the past and clutched immediately at the back of his right leg following a tackle with City winger Savinho.

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"Micky felt something in his hamstring," Ange Postecoglou confirmed after the match. "I haven't got the full update on him but he definitely felt something and we'll see how he is."

The Australian has previously been reluctant to use Van de Ven as a left-back in the past despite his pace. "I've been mindful of Micky," he said last season. "He's had a couple of injuries and I've got to be careful with him when it comes to the demands of playing left-back in our system. I've got to think about the future and the physical demands are different at left-back."

Now, less than 24 hours after Van de Ven's teammates secured passage to the quarter-finals of the League Cup, he took to social media to offer a brief and cryptic update. He wrote on his Instagram story: "Back soon."

Alongside an image of himself during the game with his hands on the back of his head, Van de Ven's black and white post possibly suggests bad news for Spurs. Postecoglou and his side face three games in a week from Sunday against Aston Villa until the next international break.

Van de Ven is an immediate doubt to feature in the crucial top four battle against Villa after his injury. Tottenham also took off Cristian Romero and matchwinner Timo Werner as they edged past City.

"Cuti [Romero] was a bit tired." explained Postecolou. "I contemplated changing him at half-time but after losing Micky as well I didn't want to lose another centre-half.

"He said he felt ok but my gut was telling me there's no point taking a risk as we had Benny [Ben Davies] who could come on. Timo hasn't played a lot so I felt it was more fatigue hopefully than anything else."

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