Tottenham boss Thomas Frank debunks Micky van de Ven worry amid relentless fixture churn

Tottenham boss Thomas Frank is confident Micky van de Ven, who has gone the extra mile to prioritise his fitness this season, is ready to continue playing regularly in the absence of captain Cristian Romero.

The Dutch centre-back has previously faced several hamstring injuries since signing from Wolfsburg in the summer of 2023 due to his explosive sprinting power.

Outside of coming off in the 80th minute against West Ham, a game in which he scored, Van de Ven has only been rested against Doncaster Rovers in the Carabao Cup.

However, Frank maintains optimism Spurs' medical staff have got the defender into a place where he can cope with the churn of fixtures.

The Dane said when asked by Football.London if Tottenham need to be careful about how much football the 24-year-old plays: "Yes but I think the big thing here is that we're also building him. I think he himself has done a lot in terms of doing everything he can to recover in the best possible way.

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"He's built his strength in the gym. The way both he and we built him in the pre-season I think, was crucial and I also think he is in a top place, getting more and more robust.

"So we just need to be aware and do the right thing. Right now he's in a very good place."

Van de Ven also started at left-back in both of Holland's recent World Cup qualification wins against Malta and Finalnd, respectively.

Meanwhile, Frank is also backing Tottenham frontman Richarlison to rediscover his goalscoring touch against former employers Everton.

The Brazil international striker started the campaign in sparkling form, plundering a stunning opening-day brace to down Burnley.

However, it's now been five weeks since he found the target at Brighton and Spurs are desperately craving his goals in the absence of Dominic Solanke.

When asked if Everton are the perfect opponents to reignite the fire within the ex-Goodison favourite's belly, Frank said: "Yes, hopefully.

"I think Richarlison started the season very well. I can't remember a spell this long where he hadn't had anything [injury related] so big praise to the medical and sports performance guys to put him in a very good place.

"Plus himself, because he's been working hard on that and I always feel it's on the individual player to do as much as possible to help with that."

Frank insists Richarlison also needs help from Spurs' creative stars to get firing again. He continued: "Also if the front four isn't clicking that doesn't help give him the right amount of chances.

"If that happens, he can look even better and as a striker, he'll score more goals. Everything is a little bit linked, we need to find more minutes where we are all in sync."