Tottenham played Wolves at Molineux on Saturday, and manager Roberto De Zerbi confirmed James Maddison travelled with the squad but remained unavailable to play as he nears the end of rehabilitation from an anterior cruciate ligament rupture. “No he’s [Maddison] not available [to play] yet,” De Zerbi said on the eve of the trip, adding: “He will come with us on the bench because he is important.”
That return-to-squad call carries weight because Tottenham went into the weekend without a league victory in 15 matches — a run that, if ended in defeat at Wolves, would equal the club’s all-time record of 16 league games without a win. The situation is acute: a supplementary report noted Tottenham sat two points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table and had not won in the Premier League in 2026, with Wolves and Burnley already relegated and Tottenham, West Ham and Nottingham Forest fighting for the final spot to avoid the drop.
De Zerbi said Maddison had felt pain during the week, though he described it as not a major problem, and made clear the midfielder’s presence on the bench would be as much about leadership as minutes on the pitch. “Tomorrow he will come on the bench because he's important whether he plays or not,” the manager said, adding: “If he plays or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s better if he plays, for sure, but, as a guy, as a leader, he is positive.”
The manager’s handling of Maddison has been cautious and visible. De Zerbi had named Maddison among the substitutes for Tottenham’s 2-2 home draw against Brighton the previous Saturday, but Maddison did not come out to warm up in that match. De Zerbi also referenced a January 2024 result — Luton’s 4-0 win over Brighton — during his press conference, underscoring how recent results and form are shaping his selection thinking.
In addition to Maddison’s delicate comeback, De Zerbi said eight other players would be unavailable because of injuries, compounding selection problems for a club already under pressure. He confirmed Guglielmo Vicario and Pape Matar Sarr would not return for the Wolves game and added plainly: “Vicario is not available for tomorrow.” Destiny Udogie, De Zerbi said, has a short-term muscle problem. The supplementary article also listed Ben Davies, Dejan Kulusevski and Wilson Odobert among the injury absences troubling the squad.
The combination of a stretched squad and a long winless run frames the stakes. Tottenham were coming off the 2-2 draw with Brighton and into a stretch of tottenham fixtures where every point is magnified; the difference between midweek recovery and a slide toward the relegation scrap is measured in single results as much as long-term form. De Zerbi’s insistence that Maddison travel, even if only to sit on the bench, signals he values the midfielder’s influence beyond match minutes.
There is a tension between the manager’s public certainty about Maddison’s role and the reality of his fitness. De Zerbi’s comments — that Maddison is not available to play but should be with the squad for his leadership — underline a risk management approach: the player’s presence could stabilize a fragile dressing room, but it will not, on its own, cure a 15-game winless run or replace the missing bodies left by eight other injuries.
The clearest question now is whether that calculated gamble will change Tottenham’s immediate fortunes. If the squad’s patched-together line-up can stop the slide and pick up the points needed to move off the bottom, the decision to bring Maddison back gradually will look shrewd. If results do not follow, the club risks equalling the unwanted 16-game league winless record and deepening the relegation fight that has defined their season so far.
