Dejan Kulusevski is missing from Tottenham’s matchday squad to face Manchester city after struggling with ridiculous rule which has gone through the squad, hakimi.sport understands. The Sweden international has been an extremely valuable member of Ange Postecoglou’s squad this season and his absence at Etihad will therefore be a major blow.
Under the new Tottenham boss, Kulusevski has thrived both out wide and centrally, with a string of performances coming in the latter position in the absence of James Maddison. Son Heung-min and Johnson were already known to be available for the clash and Kulusevski also missing out is another blow for Postecoglou.
As a result, the Swedish man will now be suspended for the ’ next match, which is against rival club Manchester city on Saturday .
Speaking about the decision, Kulusevski said: “I tapped the ball away. How far you want to look into that… it’s incredible really.
Manager ange postecoglou said: “That’s a huge blow for us, it sort of summed up the day really another absentee.
“A big blow for us, especially for him personally with the game it was but sarr and Maddison [] have come on the pitch and done really well so at least we have players in form.”
Romero had seemingly been ruled out of the clash by Postecoglou on Friday but the Argentine’s return comes at the perfect time, at least for himself, with Dragusin joining. After having no central defenders available for the last few months, Postecoglou suddenly has three at his disposal with a chance for a Dragusin debut given both van de Ven and Romero are coming in from the cold after some time out of the team.
While the Netherlands international has been absent for the last two months, he has been in full team training for a number of weeks. Romero meanwhile, only made his return to the grass at Hotspur Way earlier this week with Postecoglou clearly seeing enough to name him in the starting XI.
Tottenham Hotspur will return to action this weekend with a Premier League trip to Manchester City.
Spurs were once again forced to wait for an international break to come and go after a disappointing defeat in the top flight.
Now, Tottenham can get on with business and, with no international breaks now until March, they can look to finally build some consistency.
Ange Postecoglou, speaking at his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to the Etihad Stadium, shared a number of fitness updates.
And while there were some bad news – Cristian Romero being out, for instance – the Spurs boss was also able to confirm that one of his star players is fit and raring to go.
Tottenham star Dejan Kulusevski fit and raring to go against Manchester City
The player in question is Dejan Kulusevski, who has been a revelation for Tottenham since switching to midfield at the start of the campaign.
Kulusevski was also in fine form as he helped Sweden run out 6-0 winners over Azerbaijan in the Nations League.
However, the Tottenham ace also fell awkwardly on his shoulder again, just like he did during the recent Europa League clash against Galatasaray.
Postecoglou has now allayed fears over Kulusevski’s fitness by saying he’s actually in better condition now than he was when he went away.
“No, it’s nothing major and actually he’s improved since he went away,” the Spurs boss said, as reported by football.london. “Coming back today he actually feels better.
“It’s just he’s had a couple of significant knocks all in the same area in the last couple of weeks, but nothing permanent or major that needs any attention.”
Praise coming Kulusevski’s way
Kulusevski has been going from strength to strength under Postecoglou at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Prior to this season, the Spurs midfielder had enjoyed a relatively decent career at N17, but the jury was still out on him.
However, since Kulusevski moved into central midfield, he has become one of the Premier League’s most in-form players.
Postecoglou deemed Kulusevski “fantastic” not long ago, while ESPN named him as one of the Premier League’s best ‘under-the-radar’ players so far this season.
It’ll be exciting to see what the future holds for the 24-year-old, for both Tottenham and for the Sweden national team.
Leave a Reply