Van de Ven says Tottenham must ‘eliminate’ Hugo Ekitike in tomorrow’s Europa League clash | OneFootball

Tottenham centre-back Micky van de Ven has said his side must ‘eliminate’ Hugo Ekitike from the game tomorrow to have a chance of winning.

Ekitike is Frankfurt’s biggest threat, and scored against Spurs last week. Van de Ven was under no illusions that he must be stopped.

“He’s a really good player and scored a really good goal against us. You can see his qualities. Tomorrow for me and the person playing next to me, it’s our job to eliminate him from the game. He’s an unbelievable threat for them. He’s a really good player. So we have to eliminate him and then hopefully we can get the win.”

Asked how big a game this is, the Dutchman was keen to play it down and said Tottenham just approach it the way they do any other game. “It’s a big game for us but it’s also a game like every week. We have to play our best football and we have to play the way we want to play. We want to create as many chances as we did last week. Hopefully we can win this game and go to the next round.”

The 23-year-old has had a torrid time with injuries in the last couple of years, but insisted he feels fit and isn’t worried about the long-term impacts these might have on his career. “No not, really. I recovered well. Of course I’ve had some recurring injuries in the last couple of years but I feel well and I’m not worried about my future.

“I know I have trained and done everything to make the hamstring as strong as possible. I don’t really stress about something in the future.”

Van de Ven has been back fit for a while now, but isn’t starting every game, likely because Ange Postecoglou is trying his best to manage his minutes and ease him back to fitness. But the centre-back was keen to show he is ready to play every game.

“Why I don’t play every week is not a question to ask me, it’s a question to ask the gaffer. But body-wise I feel really well and really good. I don’t know why I don’t play every week, you have to ask the gaffer for this but I’m feeling well…. Of course I want to play every game. Football is what I love the most so of course I want to play every game.”