Cristian Romero injury update after Tottenham captain misses Aston Villa defeat

Cristian Romero picked up an injury in the warm-up (Picture: Getty)

Thomas Frank has provided an injury update on Cristian Romero after he was injured in the warm-up prior to Tottenham ’s 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa .

Romero had not missed a minute of Premier League football this season, having taken on the captain’s armand following Heung-min Son’s departure over the summer.

The Argentine international was named in the starting lineup for Sunday’s clash with Villa, but headed down the tunnel early after pulling up during his side’s warm-up.

Romero was subsequently replaced by Kevin Danso in the starting lineup, with Micky Van de Ven taking the captain’s armband.

Asked about the nature of Romero’s injury at full-time, Frank told Sky Sports: ‘Minor abductor injury. He felt a little bit the past few days. We expected him to be fine but he wasn’t. I don’t think it is too big.’

The timing of Romero’s injury is far from ideal for Spurs, given Sunday’s match is their first of seven matches in the next 22 days.

The north London side travel to face Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday, with games against Newcastle, Chelsea and Manchester United on the horizon in the coming weeks.

Romero watched from the bench after picking up an injury in the warm-up (Picture: Getty)

There was more bad news on the injury front prior to the game when Destiny Udogie was not named in the matchday squad.

Frank confirmed that the full-back had picked up a knock while on international duty with Italy, but insisted it was ‘nothing major’.

On the pitch, it was no better for Spurs as they slid to a 2-1 home defeat to Unai Emery’s side and missed out on the opportunity to temporarily go second in the table.

Emi Buendia scored the winner for Aston Villa

The hosts went ahead after just five minutes through Rodrigo Bentancur, but were pegged back before the break as Morgan Rogers’ superb striker levelled things up.

And it would be Villa who continued to raise their levels in the second half, and the visitors found the winner in the 77th minute when Emi Buendia curled a superb finish into the bottom-left corner.

‘It was exactly the game I expected it to be, against two good teams, very tight,’ Frank added.

‘There weren’t too many chances. I think overall it could’ve gone either way. I think 1-1 would’ve been a fair result.

‘Villa scored two goals from outside the box in moments where you wouldn’t expect them to score. Fair play for their moments of quality. We also easily could’ve won.

‘Villa produced two goals out of nothing and we had four or five moments where we couldn’t produce. If you told me before the game that these players will be shooting from these positions I’d have said ‘happy days’.’