Tottenham news as Ange Postecoglou left with former Spurs player to thank for Son Heung-Min favor ahead of Premier League return

Ange Postecoglou will be thankful to former Tottenham striker Jurgen Klinsmann as club captain Son Heung-Min was left on the bench for the entirety of South Korea’s first game of the international break. Son, who hasn’t been in peak condition in recent weeks, was an unused substitute in his country’s 4-0 win over Tunisia on Friday.

Having started all eight matches of the season for Spurs, helping them to an unbeaten opening two months that sees Postecoglou sat at the top of the table currently, Son’s little break will be much appreciated by both player and manager. At 31, and with more pressure than ever resting on his shoulders in attack, even this one game on the sidelines will be a great relief.

Son has already played over 700 minutes in all competitions for club and country this year and has the added burden of being the club’s captaincy and leading senior player in the absence of Hugo Lloris and Harry Kane. He is also coming off the back of four consecutive seasons with over 2,500 domestic minutes played, three of those with over 2,900 accrued.

It is a staggering number and has been brought into perspective recently due to conversations over the long-term damage done to Eden Hazard and Bukayo Saka early in their careers. Son, though, has kept going and is already lining up a much improved season in terms of output.

He has scored six times in the league and is just four off matching last year’s total, the lowest in his career since 2015. Even in the past fortnight, a time that has seen him play through discomfort, Son has come up big for Tottenham, scoring against both Arsenal and Liverpool.

Now, with a couple of extra days off before Spurs play next, being handed the Monday night slot on October 23 at home to Fulham, Son will be near fully rested even if he does play against Vietnam on Tuesday for his country. Given he wasn’t called upon by Klinsmann against Tunisia it is likely that he will be in the team this team round after the American manager said, “It’s natural for European players to feel fatigued,” when asked about the subject last week.

“It will be difficult to adjust to the time difference. Son Heung-min will be less tired. There’s no European competition.” He did explain that the condition of certain players would be taken into account but nevertheless, Postecoglou will be thankful for this brief rest.

“Look, he wasn’t 100% but I had a chat with him yesterday and he was desperate to play,” Postecoglou said of his trusted winger after the win over Liverpool. “He was going to give what he could and he did.

“He was never going to play the whole 90, we were always going to give him an hour or so but he led from the front again and he was the one doing the pressing. He got his goal as well so great captain’s effort.”