AVB on Christian Eriksen injury: Tottenham have lost ‘great talent’

Andre Villas-Boas admits Tottenham Hotspur have lost a “great, great talent” in Christian Eriksen – but the Spurs boss is confident his squad can step up in the Dane’s absence.

The 21-year-old is set to be sidelined for up to four weeks after the playmaker suffered ankle ligament damage in a 2-1 victory over Norway during the international break.

Villas-Boas has the likes of Lewis Holtby and club-record £30m signing Erik Lamela who can fill the former Ajax star’s void, and the Spurs boss is happy with his alternative options.

“At the moment, we lose a great, great talent for four weeks, hopefully, but we’ve solutions in our team and we’ll find the right answer in the group of players that we have,” said Villas-Boas.

The 35-year-old Spurs boss also expressed his frustration following a 1-0 loss to Newcastle United before the international break.

“We had ourselves to blame because the first half was appalling,” added Villas-Boas.

“Still in the first half, we had chances to level the game.

“The second half was extraordinary, probably best football we played all season but not enough to turn the game around.

“It was frustrating because we’re left on the door of going third or second, giving that extra motivation from a position in the table like that.

“We’re very good coming back from international fixtures coming into the league, so hopefully we can see a good result this weekend.”