Tottenham's Full-Back Dilemma Against Everton

Tottenham fans arrived at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium expecting a response to last weekend’s stalemate at Nottingham Forest. Instead, the first jolt of the afternoon came before a ball had been kicked.

No Pedro Porro. No Destiny Udogie. Not even on the bench.

For a side built on aggressive, front-foot full-backs, their complete omission from the squad for the visit of Everton was more than a footnote. It ripped two of the key cogs out of Roberto De Zerbi’s system and instantly changed the feel of the day.

De Zerbi plays it safe with his full-backs

The Italian had flagged the danger 24 hours earlier. He knew he was walking a tightrope with both players and, in the end, stepped off.

“Porro felt a small muscular problem, we have to see tomorrow if he’s available or not but in this moment I don’t want to take any risks. The same [with] Udogie,” De Zerbi said in his pre-match press conference.

This wasn’t cloak-and-dagger injury talk. It was a manager drawing a clear line between short-term need and long-term planning.

He pointed to the sheer load Porro has carried, stretching back to international duty.

“Porro and Udogie are similar players because one, Pedro played a World Cup, a long World Cup and we already knew after the World Cup it could be a difficult management for him,” he explained, underlining the fatigue that has been quietly building.

With Udogie, the concern runs even deeper. Tottenham know his history. They’ve lived it.

Last season in north London was punctured by repeated setbacks, the Italian international spending too much time in the treatment room and not enough time rampaging down the left. De Zerbi is determined not to relive that cycle.

“For Udogie, last season [he] suffered many injuries, he played 60 minutes in Nottingham and we have to manage also Destiny in the best way we can,” the manager added, spelling out why an hour at the City Ground was enough for now.

The message was blunt: no gambles, not in August, not with two of his most explosive outlets.

Fernandes backs the project

If the team sheet brought a defensive headache, the mood around De Zerbi’s project remains bullish inside the dressing room.

Matheus Fernandes, the marquee £85m summer signing, has wasted little time nailing his colours to the mast. Results have not yet matched the hype in the opening games, but the Portuguese midfielder is convinced the foundations are right.

“I believe that I can be a much better player than I was last season,” he said, looking around at the talent that now surrounds him.

“If you look at the squad, it's a big team with big players, important players, players with experience, players with a lot of quality. So, when you play with better players, I think you play better. So, I believe that I can be much better.”

Fernandes turned down serious interest from Manchester United to join from West Ham after a standout spell in East London. He credits De Zerbi’s intensity and passion as the decisive factor. That kind of commitment from a marquee signing matters when early results are under scrutiny.

Gray and Robertson thrown into the spotlight

With Porro and Udogie watching on, the responsibility shifted sharply onto Archie Gray and Andy Robertson.

For Gray, still a teenager and fresh from a high-profile move from Leeds United, this was no gentle easing into life at Tottenham. De Zerbi has already used him across multiple roles, trusting his versatility and temperament. Now he was being asked to cope with Everton’s physical, direct wide players in a full-blooded Premier League contest.

Different level. Different kind of examination.

On the opposite flank, Robertson brought something else entirely: scars, medals and muscle memory from years of high-stakes football. The brief, though, was demanding. He had to mimic Udogie’s aggressive, inverted movements and overlapping runs, providing the same thrust into the final third while locking down his side defensively.

Losing both first-choice full-backs in a system that leans so heavily on them would unsettle most managers. De Zerbi chose to see it as a test of his squad’s depth and adaptability.

Tottenham’s season will not be defined by one afternoon against Everton in August. But how they navigate these early fitness battles, how quickly Gray settles, how sharply Fernandes rises to the level he expects of himself – those are the threads that will decide whether this project takes off or stalls when the real pressure arrives.