Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou addressed a host of issues in Thursday’s press conference ahead of Friday’s Premier League visit to Aston Villa.
The biggest blow came in the form of Dejan Kulusevski, who has been ruled out for several months after undergoing knee surgery.
“Initially, we thought it wasn’t too serious,” Postecoglou said. “The medical team were worried structurally – it blew up the day after, and we knew there was an issue.”
The Swedish international will miss the Europa League final against Manchester United on May 21 in Bilbao, and his long-term availability is unclear.
“I’ve only got basic information at the moment – but it will certainly put him out for a while,” the Spurs boss added.
Heung-min Son will feature against Villa. “He’ll definitely play tomorrow,” Postecoglou confirmed. “Whether we start him or not, we’ll have a look at it, but he reacted well to playing the other day.”
With just a few days between the Villa clash and the European final, the Australian faces a difficult balancing act. Rest key players and risk rustiness, or play them and risk injuries.
“We obviously tried to navigate that last week by protecting a few – and it still didn’t work out,” he admitted.
Despite the mounting challenges, Postecoglou rejected any suggestion Spurs would compromise the integrity of the competition.
“We’re certainly going to go out there and try to win the game,” he said. “I’d be very surprised if people were questioning our integrity.”
On the overall impact of injuries this season, he noted: “There hasn’t been a time where we had a three or four week spell with our strongest line-up – we’ve pretty much been without key players all season.”
He ruled out a last-minute return for Lucas Bergvall and confirmed Timo Werner remains sidelined with a hamstring issue.
While Spurs have little left to play for in the league, Postecoglou clarified that internal motivation remains.
“You can’t pick and choose when these opportunities come along,” he said. “The reality is now the opportunity is there – we’ve got to make sure we’re ready for it.”
