Tottenham Hotspur have been dealt a hammer blow ahead of their Premier League meeting with Liverpool on Sunday.

What's the latest?

That's according to Gastón Edul, with the Argentine journalist revealing in a recent post on Twitter that, after missing both the 3-2 victory over AFC Bournemouth and the 2-1 victory over Olympique de Marseille due to injury, Cristian Romero will remain sidelined for a further ten days while he recovers from a muscle strain - ruling him out of the Liverpool clash this weekend.

In his post, Edul said: "Good news: Cuti Romero has a strain. With 10 days of rehabilitation, he will be cured and would reach the first game [of the World Cup]."

The news comes with Heung-min Son also being rocked by injury, with the South Korean now a doubt for the World Cup with a fractured eye socket that requires surgery.

Hammer blow

Considering just how influential Romero is within Antonio Conte's backline, should the centre-back indeed be ruled out of Spurs' meeting with Liverpool on Sunday, it would undoubtedly come as a hammer blow to the Italian manager.

Indeed, over his 30 Premier League fixtures since his move to north London last summer, the £69m-rated talent has been in sensational form at the back, helping his side keep six clean sheets, in addition to making an average of 1.5 interceptions, 2.6 tackles, 3.1 clearances and winning 5.7 duels - at a success rate of 61% - per game.

These returns have seen the £165k-per-week talent average a quite remarkable SofaScore match rating of 7.05 over his two league campaigns in north London.

Furthermore, according to FBref, the 24-year-old also ranks in the top 20% of centre-backs in Europe's big five leagues for shot-creating actions per 90, as well as the top 18% for passes attempted, the top 21% for passes completed, the top 20% for progressive passes and the top 11% for dribbles completed over the last 365 days.

These statistics show that, in addition to Romero's solidity at the back, the Argentine is also an incredibly creative player going forwards - something that Tottenham undoubtedly miss in his absence.

As such, should the 12-cap international indeed be ruled out for the visit of Liverpool this weekend, it is clear to see that it would come as a devastating blow for Conte and his side - who will certainly be hoping to carry the momentum of Tuesday's dramatic Champions League victory into their meeting with Jurgen Klopp's outfit.