Ange Postecoglou has named an unchanged Tottenham side for this afternoon’s clash against Sheffield United.
Heung-min Son keeps his place up front, after a hat-trick against Burnley, with Manor Solomon on the left of the three behind him.
The Spurs manager mentioned it was a minor injury that kept Eric Dier out of the last two games, though the England international is nonetheless not prominent in Postecoglou’s plans this season and he is not in the squad again.
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Giovani Lo Celso injured his quad muscle in the Carabao Cup match against Fulham, and Postecoglou said on Friday: “He is not available for this weekend. He did train with us yesterday but we will give him another week and will hopefully be available for next weekend.
“Everyone came back [from international duty] yesterday, and we had an afternoon session, more of a recovery session for everyone. Today it was a full session and everyone was good, no issues. They all got through training and obviously we’ll see how they recover but at this moment in time they’ve come through unscathed.
“Alejo [Veliz] had his first training session with us yesterday. The rest have been really significant contributors for us.”
The Aussie added: “Eric had an injury so he wasn’t even available for the last two games. He’s only just got back into training this week since we’ve been on the international break. Hugo [Lloris] has been training with the goalkeeping group, so nothing’s really changed from that perspective.”
Rodrigo Bentancur was allowed to take part in the warm-up part of training on Thursday, but Postecoglou insisted he is still a way away from his return after a serious knee injury.
“A couple of weeks ago he came barging into my room wanting to start in the team,” he added.
“Rehab — talk to any player — that’s a tough thing. It’s not that you have to do the work. It’s the solitary element of it, where you’re not with the group.
“Just having him do the warm-ups and him being involved, he was buzzing yesterday. Then he was fairly dejected when we pulled him out after the warm-up. It’s good. It’s fair to say, he’s still got a fair bit of work to do. But great to have him involved, and I guess that just encourages him a bit more. It’s great to see.”
Brennan Johnson features in the matchday squad and will be eyeing a potential debut off the bench after his deadline day move from Nottingham Forest.
Starting XI: Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie, Sarr, Bissouma, Kulusevski, Maddison, Solomon, Son.
Subs: Skipp, Hojbjerg, Richarlison, Emerson, Perisic, Dier, Forster, Johnson, Davies.
Injuries: Lo Celso, Bentancur, Sessegnon, Gil, Whiteman
Time and date: 3pm, Saturday September 16, 2023
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
