Tottenham Hotspur and Wales defender Ben Davies has withdrawn from international duty due to injury.
Ben Davies Injury Blow before Wales Belgium Clash
Two Welsh Defenders Injured
Wales FA made a statement: “Ben Davies and Tom Lockyer have both withdrawn from the squad due to injury.”
Wales will now face Belgium in the Group E World Cup qualifying match without these two centre-backs.
The defenders will not be available for the upcoming Mexico friendly, nor the other qualifier against the Czech Republic.
Tom Lockyer, Luton Town centre-back, has been recovering from an ankle injury he suffered against Cardiff a month ago.
Davies is also capable of playing as a centre-back in the back three that Wales use.
His injury is a particular blow since the 27-year-old has 58 caps and is a good fit on the left-hand side of the defence.
There are a number of options in the squad already including Joe Rodon, Ethan Ampadu and Chris Mepham, as well as James Lawrence and Ben Cabango.
Spurs Suffer Injuries to Two Left-Backs
Davies reportedly has not recovered from a knock sustained in Spurs’ 2-0 victory over Aston Villa. The Welshman came on to replace Sergio Reguilon in the 57th minute, who had suffered an injury himself.
Fortunately for Spurs, Reguilon took to Instagram to say “Everything is fine.”
As for Davies, it is yet unclear as to whether he will be available for Tottenham’s next match against Newcastle United on the 4th of April.
Wales caretaker manager Robert Page has reportedly described the injury as ‘significant’, according to Sports Reporter Phil Blanche.
The BBC have reported that Davies’ injury is a soft tissue injury.
Impact on Wales
Wales have plenty of other centre-backs to call on, despite Davies (27) and Lockyer (26) being two of the more senior central defenders.
The rest of Wales’ centre-backs are relatively young, with two 20-year-olds in Ampadu and Cabango, and two 23-year-olds in Rodon and Mepham.
But Ampadu is the most capped centre-back for Wales this season (7), with Rodon closely following him (6).
Last time out in the 3-1 Nations League win against Finland, Wales fielded a back-three of Mepham, Rodon and Lawrence.
Mepham and Rodon were also used against the Republic of Ireland, with Davies and Ampadu involved in the starting line-up.
Wales can still, therefore, have some stability in Davies’ absence. They still have their more experienced players in Gareth Bale leading the line and Danny Ward between the sticks.
But Wales face Belgium, ranked number one in FIFA’s world rankings. Their array of attacking talent includes the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Yannick Carrasco and Kevin De Bruyne.
Come tomorrow night, Wales (ranked 18) will be put to the test without Davies, in one of the opening Group E World Cup 2022 qualifiers.
Czech Republic (42), Estonia (108) and Belarus (88) make up the rest of Group E, providing Wales with a solid opportunity to qualify for the World Cup.
Even snatching a point off Belgium could be massive for The Dragons, who can then surely best the lower-ranked nations in their group.
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