Ange Postecoglou has provided on update on Son Heung-min’s fitness after he was forced off in Tottenham’s 3-0 dismantling of Qarabag in the Europa League.
The Spurs skipper came off with 20 minutes to go for Timo Werner having had medical attention, moments after his shot was parried into Dominic Solanke’s path for the side’s third goal.
Tottenham face Manchester United on Sunday and with Richarlison and Wilson Odobert already out, Postecoglou does not need another body on the treatment table.
Spurs were fine against Qarabag, with Brennan Johnson and Pape Matar Sarr also getting in on the scoring, but tension is building after a middling start in the league.
On Son, Postecoglou said: ‘I haven’t spoken to him.
Son Heung-min received medical treatment and was forced off as Spurs beat Qarabag 3-0
Ange Postecoglou said he ‘felt a bit tired’ but that he had not spoken to Son or medics
Spurs ran out 3-0 winners against the Azeri visitors after the game kicked off 38 minutes late
‘He said he felt a bit tired but I haven’t spoken to him or medicals yet.’
Tottenham were left with 10 men after seven minutes when Radu Dragusin received a straight red card on his first European start.
Dragusin let a simple pass from one of his team-mates drift past him near the halfway line, allowing Qarabag striker Juninho to steal possession and have a clear run on goal.
Unable to catch the Brazilian, Dragusin instead decided to pull him down to the ground that prompted an immediate red card from the referee. It was, as fans wrote on X, ‘diabolical defending’.
Gridlock in London meant the match got underway 38 minutes late as the Azeri visitors got caught up in traffic.
Rail and road closures for a variety of reasons combined to cause chaos for the visiting team and thousands of fans who had to find alternative routes through relentless rain to reach N17.
The TNT Sports team, including pundits Peter Crouch and Glenn Hoddle, were also caught out and had to abandon their vehicle and set out into the rain on foot.
‘Imagine being caught in traffic for more than two and a half hours. I cannot just make excuses for this; it shouldn’t have happened and there were no police to escort us,’ said Qarabag boss Gurban Gurbanov.
TNT Sports pundit and former Tottenham striker Peter Crouch revealed how the travel chaos affected his journey to the stadium
Brennan Johnson netted for the third game in a row to open the scoring for the hosts
Pape Matar Sarr doubled Spurs’ lead as they got off to a solid start in the Europa League
‘It had a big impact on our footballers, but it doesn’t take away from our opponent. They are a good team and we don’t turn a blind eye to that.
‘As soon as we arrived, we were told to start in 40 minutes and we were not as ready or prepared as we should have been. These things shouldn’t happen.’
Once the match was underway home fans were treated to enough entertainment, though the hosts only had 10 shots to Qarabag’s 14.
Johnson opened the scoring after 12 minutes – his third goal in as many games – while Sarr doubled their lead shortly after half-time.
Qarabag had a golden opportunity to halve the deficit on 58 minutes but Tural Bayramov skied a spot-kick and Solanke punished them 10 minutes later when he capitalised on a poor save from Mateusz Kochalski to poke home.
‘It was just not a great start for us,’ Postecoglou said. ‘We were really passive with our passing. Whether it was the delay to the game or whatever, but it’s no excuse.
‘So having a 35-minute delay, delays warm-ups, delays all sorts of things but you’ve just got to deal with it and we’ve got to deal with it better than what we did tonight.
‘We kind of shot ourselves in the foot and unfortunately Radu [Dragusin] paid the ultimate price for it. But as a team, we just didn’t start the game in the way we wanted to and the way we needed to and made the game challenging for us.
‘The response was great, absolutely, but disappointed we had to be in that position.’
