James Maddison has called on Tottenham Hotspur to conduct a formal investigation into their injury crisis after the club narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of the Premier League season. Following a 1-0 victory over Everton, the midfielder insisted that the scale of Spurs' absences was unprecedented and directly responsible for their unexpected fight against the drop.
The English playmaker, who returned from a torn ACL for just three substitute appearances in the closing matches, pointed to the catalogue of significant injuries that decimated Ange Postecoglou's squad throughout the campaign. Dejan Kulusevski missed the entire season following knee surgery, Mohammed Kudus was sidelined for the second half with a hamstring injury, and Rodrigo Bentancur lost 15 games to a similar problem. Maddison argued these absences were not merely coincidental but symptomatic of a deeper issue requiring urgent scrutiny.
Scale of the Problem Unprecedented
"Our situation with the injuries has been worse than any other club," Maddison told reporters. "Ours is astronomical and we need to look at why that is." While acknowledging that some injuries, such as his own ACL tear or Kulusevski's collision with Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi, were simple misfortune rather than systemic failures, he refused to accept that the medical team bore no responsibility for the overall pattern.
The midfielder struck a defiant note about what might have been, stating: "If we had had myself, Kulusevski and Kudus available for the whole season, and if Bentancur hadn't missed three months, we wouldn't have been in this situation. That's just not me being naive, that's just a fact." His comments underscore a troubling reality: Tottenham's injury toll this season has been substantially worse than their rivals, and the cumulative effect pushed them toward an unthinkable crisis.
A Victory Born from Resilience
Despite the catalogue of absences, Tottenham's survival on the final day demonstrated remarkable character. The 1-0 win over Everton secured their Premier League status in an extraordinary turnaround, though questions will now linger over recruitment, fitness protocols, and whether structural changes are needed to prevent a repeat.
As the club enters the transfer window, Maddison's plea for investigation signals mounting pressure on the board and medical department to address what he termed an "astronomical" problem that nearly cost Spurs their top-flight status.
