Medical expert fears Matt Doherty may have ‘ACL’ and ‘MCL’ damage amid Tottenham latest
It is a possibility that Tottenham star Matt Doherty may have suffered secondary anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) damage.
That is the view of injury expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis.
Doherty, 30, limped off after a full-blooded tackle from Matty Cash in Spurs’ 4-0 victory over Aston Villa last Saturday (9 April).
Per Sky Sports on Monday (11 April), the Republic of Ireland right-back is out for the rest of 2021-22 with a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury.
Dinnery suggests that Spurs will decide whether to operate on the defender based on a number of factors, including if there is secondary ACL damage.
“The timelines that are being bandied around are pretty much on the money,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“Most of the data says around nine weeks for this sort of injury. Doherty will be heading to see a specialist too.
“As it stands, there is no decision on how the injury will be managed. They do have good outcomes with non-surgical management of these issues.
“He will go from it being immobilised and then to partial weight-bearing so he can progress through his recovery in that scenario.
“If surgery is to be considered, there will be a few influencing factors. If there is, say, secondary damage to the ACL or instability around that joint.
“There is a strong possibility that they will be able to treat it non-surgically, however.
“It certainly ends his domestic campaign and maybe those Nations League games as well.”
Doherty’s 26 appearances this term have yielded two goals and four assists.
Spurs are 4th in the league table with seven games left to play.
In other news, Villarreal opening talks with Tottenham to sign Giovani Lo Celso as swap deal on the cards.