Tottenham Hotspur has coped fairly admirably without Son Heung-Min for its past two matches — a 0-3 away win over Manchester United this past weekend, and a 1-2 win at Ferencvaros in the Europa League on Thursday night. They’ll need to hope that streak continues without him this weekend as well.
Ange Postecoglou confirmed via a statement on Tottenham’s website that while Destiny Udogie is likely to feature in some capacity when Spurs travel to the AmEx Stadium to face Brighton away this Sunday, it’s still too soon for Sonny, who is nursing a minor hamstring injury.
“Of the guys who stayed back… Destiny, we think will be okay. We train today and tomorrow, so he has to get through that. Sonny is unlikely, he’s pushing hard, but the turn around might be too quick for him to be available at this stage.”
Spurs have already put a lot of miles on Sonny’s legs already this season, so getting him a couple of weeks rest, heading into an international break, is likely a good thing. It’ll give him some (forced) time to recharge… although the KFA has once again called Sonny up to play for Korea during the break. We’ll have to see whether he reports or not — hopefully either he’s forced into a break or his Korea manager allows him to fully recuperate.
So what does that mean for the lineup? With Wilson Odobert and Richarlison still on the long-term injury list it probably means another start for Timo Werner on the left against Brighton. Again, that’s not a bad thing — while Timo’s getting plenty of stick for missing goal scoring opportunities, he’s #actually playing quite well in Postecoglou’s system and has been a plus-add in ball progression and chance creation. I expect we’ll likely see a lineup similar to what we got against United last weekend, with Destiny Udogie either starting or splitting time with Djed Spence at left back and Rodrigo Bentancur slotting in for Yves Bissouma in central midfield. But we’ll see, I guess.
Update: Apparently the KFA released a statement today releasing Sonny from his international responsibilities. He’s been replaced in the Korea side for the upcoming break. Great news!
