Ryan Mason could unleash ‘wonderful’ 22-year-old for Spurs v Palace

Sat 6 May 2023 7:15, UK

Tottenham Hotspur interim manager Ryan Mason has provided an update on Oliver Skipp’s fitness ahead of the Crystal Palace match.

The Spurs midfielder had to be taken off against Liverpool last week after being on the receiving end of a Diogo Jota high boot.

In the latter stages of the game, the Liverpool forward raised his foot while Skipp was leaning in with his head to nod away the ball.

Skipp needed stitches on a head wound, while Jota was lucky not to be sent off for dangerous play.

Tottenham controversially lost 4-3 as the Reds attacker went on to score a late winner in injury time.

However, Mason was able to share some good news ahead of Saturday’s game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The Spurs interim boss, speaking at his pre-match press conference, said Skipp’s head injury is “not too serious”.

He is available and could feature against Roy Hodgson’s charges in the 3pm Premier League kick-off.

“He’s in contention,” said Mason, via the Tottenham .

“I think he’s a very lucky boy.

“He needed close to 10 stitches, a couple of big gashes on his head, but ultimately it was nothing too serious.

“It could have been – it was very close to being a serious injury – but thankfully for us it wasn’t.”

Our view

Great news from Mason about Skipp, who is finally getting regular game time after a difficult first half of the season.

The 22-year-old barely got any game time for Tottenham between August and mid-February.

Skipp then started against West Ham on 19 February and has started every league game for Spurs since then.

There were fears the midfielder may have had to spend more time on the sidelines after last week.

Thankfully, this is not the case, and Mason could potentially start the “wonderful” talent against Palace.