Tottenham Faces Setbacks with Tonali and Porro Missing at Anfield
Tottenham head to Anfield tonight chasing a place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup – and trying to shake off the feeling of a season that has yet to properly start – without Sandro Tonali and Pedro Porro.
It is the last thing Roberto De Zerbi needed.
Spurs have gone back-to-back games without scoring, grinding out 0-0 draws against Nottingham Forest and Everton, and now walk into one of the most hostile grounds in the country having not won there in 15 years. They needed a lift. Instead, they got another setback.
Tonali and Porro ruled out
De Zerbi confirmed Tonali has picked up a minor knock in the wake of the stalemate with Everton, ruling the midfielder out of the trip to Merseyside. Porro, meanwhile, remains sidelined with the muscular problem that already kept him out at the weekend.
Two starters. Two absences. A squad already short of rhythm after a disrupted pre-season now looks even thinner.
There is at least one piece of good news. Destiny Udogie returns after being left out against Everton as a precaution, and is expected to come straight back into the side at left-back.
“Sandro Tonali will play no part for Tottenham at Anfield,” De Zerbi underlined, before turning to the rest of his walking wounded.
Richarlison still frozen out
If Tonali and Porro are missing through injury, Richarlison’s absence is entirely different.
The Brazilian remains in limbo. He pushed hard to leave Spurs over the summer, made clear he wanted out, and was then omitted from the club’s Premier League squad when no move materialised in the final days of the window.
He is eligible for the Carabao Cup. De Zerbi could pick him. He will not.
Richarlison has been left “out in the cold” and nothing has changed. The Spurs head coach confirmed the forward will not travel to Merseyside, keeping him firmly on the outside looking in as the season gathers pace without him.
Long-term absentee Dejan Kulusevski is also still unavailable.
No, Kulusevski not available. Pedro is still not available. Udogie yes. Richarlison, you already know everything, nothing changed for the Carabao Cup or Premier League. The situation is the same,” De Zerbi said in his pre-match press conference.
Rotation, kids and tired legs
Spurs are expected to rotate at Anfield, but De Zerbi’s options are not as plentiful as they look on paper.
He admitted several key players are short of full match fitness, including Mateus Fernandes, Conor Gallagher and Mohammed Kudus. All three are important to the way he wants to play. All three are still chasing sharpness.
That reality opens the door, at least slightly, to the academy.
De Zerbi name-checked young winger Luca Williams-Barnett as a possible option for minutes off the bench, though he stopped well short of guaranteeing a full debut.
“I don't know, Luca. We have to see because many players need to play. Maybe not 90 minutes, 90 minutes, but 30 minutes a real game is important,” he said, before circling back to the Tonali news. “Yes, there is not Sandro Tonali. I forgot to say because he felt a knock.”
The Italian is juggling priorities: respect the competition, protect his stars, and somehow inject life into a team that has been blunt in front of goal.
Predicted Tottenham XI vs Liverpool
With all that in mind, Spurs are expected to line up with a side that blends senior figures and those in need of minutes:
Dubravka; Gray, Tosin, Senesi, Udogie; Bentancur, Bergvall, Gallagher; Kudus, Solanke, Marmoush.
On the sidelines, the list is growing: Simons, Odobert, Kulusevski, Tonali, Porro and Mudryk are all out. Richarlison remains unavailable by choice rather than fitness.
Kick-off at Anfield is at 8pm BST on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, live on Sky Sports and ITV4.
Spurs arrive wounded, short of goals and without two of their most influential players. Anfield has not been kind to them for a decade and a half. If De Zerbi can coax a statement performance out of this patched-up group tonight, it might just be the night Tottenham’s season finally wakes up.
