Archie Gray is set for a spell on the sidelines, becoming the latest casualty in a growing injury list for Tottenham boss Thomas Frank. The 19-year-old former Leeds midfielder was fancied to start in Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup clash with Newcastle at St James’ Park. However, it has emerged that the versatile youngster has sustained an injury in training and will be absent from the match.
While there has been no official confirmation regarding the severity of the issue, reports suggest that the highly-rated player could face around a month out after injuring his calf. This comes as a significant setback for Gray, who had the opportunity to start in his preferred midfield position on Wednesday night. He demonstrated his adaptability last season under Ange Postecoglou, playing in defence, and Frank has also capitalised on his versatility.
Frank now finds himself down by 10 first-team players. Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie, Ben Davies, Radu Dragusin, Kota Takai, Yves Bissouma, Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Dominic Solanke are all currently sidelined for Spurs.
Despite the injury woes, Frank remains ambitious about Tottenham’s prospects in the Carabao Cup this season, although he questioned why the semi-finals were still two-legged.
Spurs, eager to add more silverware to their trophy cabinet following their Europa League triumph in May under Frank’s predecessor Postecoglou, travel to holders Newcastle for the fourth round on Wednesday.
Frank has suggested a shake-up of domestic competitions due to an increasingly packed football calendar. He pointed out that Spurs have already played 15 matches this season, following a gruelling 60-match campaign in 2024-25.
“By the way, one thing I’ve been thinking about is that there should only be one semi-final,” Frank proposed.
“I think two reasons. For the smaller clubs, if you want to beat a bigger club, it’s much easier to play only one game, so we really want someone to break out and it’s not the same boring same teams winning – of course except from Spurs!”
“Then we need to skip one semi-final for everyone else that plays so many games. It should only be one.
“If it’s about money, then someone needs to fix it. If it’s Premier League paying money to EFL (English Football League), because as far as I understand it, it’s because of that. So someone has to fix it. It should be very, very easy.”