Richarlison set for rare start as Son recovers from injury, says Postecoglou

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that star forward Son Heung-min will not feature against AZ Alkmaar as he continues to recover from injury.

Son was replaced by Timo Werner shortly after scoring Tottenham’s final goal as they cruised to a 4-1 home win over West Ham at the weekend, but it appears this change was simply precautionary.

He had missed three matches previously after sustaining a hamstring injury against Qarabag in an earlier earlier Europa League tie.

Postecoglou confirmed that the plan had always been to let Son rest, though.

He said: “Sonny was a bit sore after the weekend, he was never gonna be involved tomorrow anyway because he missed a bit, so we are leaving him out of tomorrow and we will see how he is from there.”

Spurs rely heavily on their star man, who has become the leading source of goals since Harry kane’s departure. He has three league goals and two assists so far this season, adding to his 27 total goal contributions from last season.

Hosting Dutch side Alkmaar, Postecoglou may look to the returning Richarlison as a new source of attacking power.

“I think Richy got through the weekend really well. It is almost his second week of training now and he is ready to go in terms of being available,” he said, hinting at a first start of the season for the Brazilian forward, who was injured in training ahead of Spurs’ away loss to Newcastle in September.

New signing Wilson Odobert may have to wait longer to return to play. The 19-year-old forward was signed in the summer but has been limited to just five appearances after injuring his hamstring against Coventry in September.

Asked whether he could return against Alkmaar, Postecoglou said: “We have to be a bit more careful with him because he has missed a lot and he’s only had this week training, but he will be in the squad tomororw.

“Game time will be game dependent, but good to get him back and after this week he should be fully available.

In other injury news, Postecoglou added that Djed Spence had returned to training but was working individually.

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