Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has delivered injury updates on key trio Son Heung-min, Richarlison, and Micky van de Ven ahead of Sunday’s clash with Ipswich Town.
The north Londoners host the Premier League newcomers on the back of a deflating 3-2 defeat against Galatasaray in the Europa League and will be keen to get back to winning ways.
A win could take Tottenham into the top four if other results go their way and it would be a perfect scenario to hit the pause button ahead of November’s international break.
Ipswich will be desperate for maximum points having failed to win any of their ten games so far, but Spurs should have enough in the bag to ease past the relegation contenders.
However, they could be missing a couple of key players for this weekend’s showdown.
Spurs skipper Son has been on the recovery trail for the past two games, and Postecoglou has confirmed that his minutes will be managed again to protect him from a relapse.
Richarlison just returned from a lengthy spell on the sidelines but pulled up in the 4-1 win against Aston Villa and will have to go through another recovery process.
Van de Ven will also sit out the game against Ipswich with Postecoglou hoping he’ll be further along in his recovery journey after the international break.
“He [Richarlison] was very disappointed,” Postecoglou said in his pre-match press conference (via Football London).
“He worked awfully hard on his rehab but also his general fitness. He was doing everything right, we eased him back into playing, we didn’t want to overload him and unfortunately he broke down again.
On Van de Ven, Postecoglou said: “Yeah, it will be after the international break. I think probably the end of the break will be four weeks, so when exactly after that, we’ll have to wait and see.”
On Son, he said: “He kind of had a relapse and what we don’t want to do is put him back into that cycle.
“Managing his minutes, building him up. Hopefully we can continue to build that up, but ultimately for us, it’s about getting him back and keeping him back because we can’t afford any more injuries in that position.”
Tottenham are also without academy talent Mikey Moore and Wilson Odobert, whose start to life at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium has been stifled by injuries.
Spurs have alternated between a win and a defeat over their last five league games so heading into the international break with back-to-back league wins is important for their ambitions.
