Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou is now expected to make one major change for the trip to West Ham tonight.
Spurs left it late – once again – to claim all three points in their game on the weekend against Luton Town.
However, Heung-min Son was the hero at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium having scored his 15 of the Premier League campaign.
Despite the tight scoreline, it was actually a game which Spurs dominated and really should have ran away with had they took their chances.
But it seems Ange Postecoglou could now be set to make at least one big change to the starting XI for the trip to the London Stadium.
Postecoglou expected to bring back Micky van de Ven
Prior to the international break, Spurs saw one of their standout summer signings in Micky van de Ven go down with another hamstring injury.
Speaking shortly after the Aston Villa game, Postecoglou admitted it was nothing as serious as the one he picked up earlier in the season against Chelsea
And that was seen when he returned to the match day squad on the weekend for the game against Luton.
READ MORE: Get to know Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven, from his career stats to his top speed
The Dutchman did not feature off the bench with Radu Dragusin playing the full 90 minutes alongside Cristian Romero.
And the Romanian was able to put in a solid performance at centre-back, but journalist Dan Kilpatrick has claimed Van de Ven is now expected to return to the starting XI.
He said: ‘Micky van de Ven returned to the bench for Saturday’s late win over Luton but is likely to come back into the XI at the expense of Radu Dragusin, while Brennan Johnson pushing for a start after a decisive display from the bench.’
What Ange Postecoglou said about Van de Ven’s fitness
Going into the game tonight, Spurs do not have any further injury woes coming out of the Luton game.
Speaking on Monday in his pre-match press conference from Hotspur Way, Postecoglou said: “Yeah pretty much no different to the last game. Everyone got through the game unscathed. So no real change. Everyone is good.”
But it looks as if the January signing, Dragusin, could be set to make way having only made his second ever start for the Lilywhites.
Putting the early goal conceded aside, it was a fairly solid afternoon for the Spurs defence. Here is a summary of how the 22-year-old played.
- 90 minutes played
- 85 touches
- 84% pass accuracy
- 5 clearances
- 1 tackle
- 2/3 aerial duels won
- 100% sibble success
Statistics via SofaScore.
With such a busy fixture list coming up for Spurs over the coming weeks, it will be important for Postecoglou to rotate his squad.
And bringing back Van de Ven to the starting XI will see Spurs return to their strongest possible backline.
Speaking ahead of the victory over Luton on the weekend, Postecoglou provided an update on how Van de Ven was fairing after his return.
He said: “In terms of injuries. Micky has trained. he’s trained the last couple of days. He feels good so he will be available.”
With Dragusin available, there was no need to rush the £50k-per-week Dutchman back into the starting XI, but it may be a wise decision against a West Ham side needing to make a statement after the weekend.
The Spurs News has also started Van de Ven in our predicted XI as well as a further two changes, which you can read here.