Tottenham set for injury boost as Ange Postecoglou’s job comes under more scrutiny

Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham are set for a welcome injury boost as the Aussie coach’s job comes under more scrutiny ahead of a crunch clash against Manchester United.

Under-fire Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou will be boosted by the return from injury of key players for the crucial clash with Manchester United on Sunday.

Postecoglou was without 11 players for last weekend’s FA Cup fourth round defeat at Aston Villa, which followed a League Cup semi-final exit against Liverpool.

But the Australian has worked with Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, James Maddison, Wilson Odobert and Brennan Johnson in training this week.

Italy goalkeeper Vicario has not featured since fracturing an ankle against Manchester City in November, forcing Postecoglou to use three replacements, including new January signing Antonin Kinsky.

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Relieved to see some of his walking wounded finally available as Tottenham try to ease the mounting pressure on their manager, Postecoglou said the week of rest since their last game was a major boost.

“It’s been a good week, fair to say, in terms of the health and wellbeing of the group of young men I look after,” Postecoglou told reporters on Friday.

“The guys who have been playing have benefited from a couple of days off. “On the injury front, good to have some significant players back for training purposes to start with because it raises the quality and level of our training, but in terms of helping us Vicario, yes trained really well and good to go.

“Madders (Maddison) is good to go. Then we’ve had Destiny, Wilson and Brennan training with the group and they’re in a good space as well, so it’s been a good training week.”

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Tottenham’s treatment room is still busy as centre-backs Micky van de Ven, Radu Dragusin and Cristian Romero all remain sidelined.

Postecoglou, whose team are 14th place in the Premier League, is also without forwards Richarlison, Timo Werner and Dominic Solanke for United’s visit to north London.

Tottenham’s approach to treating Van de Ven during a lengthy lay-off has been criticised. He returned from a seven-week absence with a hamstring injury to play the first half of a 3-0 win against Elfsborg on January 30.

Van de Ven has not featured since and Postecoglou revealed the Dutch defender has been assessed externally.

“We’ve had a couple of people externally have a look at him and give him some guidance and information -- and to our staff as well -- about things he can do differently which will help him making sure his body is better equipped to handle the kind of athlete he is,” Postecoglou said.

“You know whilst it may look with Micky like we had a false start with the Elfsborg thing, I think it gave us an indication of where he is at.”

Originally published as Tottenham set for injury boost as Ange Postecoglou’s job comes under more scrutiny