Postecoglou fears another Son ‘relapse’ as crucial Spurs defender ‘has chance’ to face Ipswich

Jason Soutar
Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou
Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou before a match.

Ange Postecoglou has no fresh injury problems ahead of Tottenham’s Premier League clash against Ipswich Town on Sunday.

Spurs host Kieran McKenna’s men on Sunday afternoon after losing 3-2 at Galatasaray in the Europa League.

Postecoglou says his players were “unscathed” and is hopeful Cristian Romero can return, while Mikey Moore and Timo Werner are out.

“Last night, I think everyone got through it unscathed. So everyone from last night should be ready to go.

“Cristian, we’ll see how he goes in the next couple of days. The idea is to try and get him out there and train, he’s pretty keen to. He has a chance for the weekend.

“Mikey is probably still not right for the weekend and probably Timo as well. It’s only really Cristian who could potentially be back.”

Micky van de Ven remains out with a hamstring issue. Postecoglou added: “It will be after the international break. When after it will be dictated by his progress during that time.

“The end of the international break is probably about four weeks. It’ll be some time after that. When exactly we’ll have to see.”

MORE ON TOTTENHAM FROM F365
👉 Four managers have served touchline bans this season over discipline
👉 Spurs finally succumb to self-inflicted wounds against Galatasaray’s wildly on-brand Super Lig All Stars
👉 Tottenham ‘paid the price’ against Galatasaray in ‘self-inflicted’ defeat – Postecoglou

Another injury worry is captain Heung-min Son, who Postecoglou does not want to suffer another “relapse”.

“He had the injury, we brought him back and in the first game back he had a relapse,” the Australian head coach said.

“We don’t want to put him into that cycle, it’s very easy to fall into it by pushing players particularly when they’re coming back from injury. We’re managing his minutes and building him up.

“It’s about making sure we get him back and keep him back. We can’t afford more injuries in that position.

“We’ve already got Wilson [Odobert] with a long-term injury, [Richarlison] with a long-term injury, Mikey [van de Ven] out now.”

Ipswich and Wolves are the only winless teams in the Premier League this season but Postecoglou will not take Sunday’s fixture for granted.

“Every league game has the potential to hurt you if you’re not at your best,” he said. “Ipswich will be no different. They were close last week [to winning] and they’ve been close in a number of games.

“Kieran McKenna has done an unbelievable job since he’s been there and they continue to grow. The fact he’s got them competitive and they’ve been competitive in just about every game this year is a credit to him and his players.

“We’re expecting a tough one like we do every week. Our form at home has been pretty strong this year and we want to continue that.”

Big Ange believes his team have been playing “pretty good” so far this season despite “a couple of stumbles”.

“We still have a hell of a long way to go,” the former Celtic manager said. “What’s important for us is to keep progressing in the way we have been. Our football for the large part has been pretty consistent, pretty good.

“We’ve had a couple of stumbles along the way but within that context, I still think we’re making progress.

“There’s no point looking at the table now because ultimately it’s where you are at the end of the end of the season that’s going to count.”

👉 READ NEXT: Why do Arsenal fans still support Mikel Arteta? They ‘can’t fathom how ridiculous’ that question is