Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has provided an insight on the fitness of one of his players ahead of tomorrow’s game.
The Lilywhites were able to put three valuable points on the board over the weekend with a victory against Luton Town.
But there can be no time to dwell on their victory with a trip to West Ham United coming up on Tuesday night.
Ange Postecoglou’s side will be presented with the opportunity to return to the top four tomorrow night and it seems they will have a 26-year-old fully fit to return to the starting XI.
Richarlison injury news
After returning from the international with no minutes under his belt, there may have been some question marks over the Brazilian’s fitness.
And he even said that he was still struggling with the knee issue whilst away with his national side.
He said: “I spoke to Professor Dorival. He understood that I’m not 100% physically fit. I’ve been feeling my knee a little. Even with the effort on a daily basis, I felt it. I’m happy with the team’s performance anyway. We grew a lot in both games and now I will recover well…”
Having returned to play against Luton on the weekend, the 26-year-old was only able to feature for the final five minutes of the game.
Journalist Alasdair Gold even noticed the Brazilian not quite moving as freely as he’d like to in that brief cameo display.
However, speaking to the media from Hotspur Way on Monday, Postecoglou provided an encouraging update on Richarlison’s fitness.
He said: “Yeah, yeah, he was much better after the game and he felt a lot better. He trained yesterday and he’ll train this afternoon. He feels good now.”
Should Richarlison return to the starting XI against West Ham?
Saturday’s victory over Luton was probably a big insight as to where Richarlison’s match fitness is at.
For the large majority of the game, Spurs were chasing the points and it took until Spurs took the lead for Postecoglou to look to his “really important” number nine.
Although they were in desperate need of three points to keep up their pursuit of the top four, Richarison was only an option for the final five minutes.
He had been in fine form prior to his recent knee issue with nine goals in his previous 10 Premier League games before the injury.
But not playing until the final five minutes on Saturday would suggest his fitness is still a way off from featuring from the start.
And it is not exactly like Heung-min Son is struggling through the middle as he netted his 15th of the season on the weekend.
Pundit Micah Richards was left amazed – once again – with the South Korean as he netted yet another goal for Spurs.
He said: “I thought it was going to be a bad day, but then Son… wow, wow, what a player he is and continues to be!”
With Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner also impressing, it is hard to see Richarlison working his way into the XI on Tuesday.
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