Ange Postecoglou gives Pape Matar Sarr Tottenham fitness update and makes Eric Dier injury claim

Ange Postecoglou has indicated that Tottenham’s Premier League home clash against West Ham on Thursday evening could come too soon for Pape Matar Sarr. A big player for Spurs so far this season, the midfielder has not featured at all since returning from the international break carrying an injury.

Giovani Lo Celso and Dejan Kulusevski have stepped up in midfield in his absence, with both players on the scoresheet last Sunday in the team’s 3-3 draw away at Manchester City. The good news is that Sarr is back in training with the rest of the squad at Hotspur Way but it could potentially be Sunday against Newcastle United when he does make his return to the pitch.

“Cristian [Romero] is available,” said Postecoglou, when speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the West Ham game. “Nothing the other night in terms of disrupting this preparation.

“From the guys out, Pape is back training. Probably tomorrow will be a bit too soon for him but Sunday I’m pretty sure he’ll be available.

“Richy got five mins other day and felt short physically but in terms of where he is he’s available. All the rest I don’t expect to see back for a while.”

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Another player to miss out on the matchday squad last Sunday at the Etihad Stadium was Eric Dier. Pulling up sore in training and not available to be part of the travelling party, Postecoglou has revealed that Dier is still missing from first-team training because of the issue.

“At this stage because he hasn’t trained for over a week now and we’re working on the issue so I assume when he does get back he’ll need a bit of time. It’s a groin issue,” he said on the defender’s injury.

Postecoglou also provided an update in his press conference on James Maddison’s fitness. Mentioning in an interview with Amazon Prime Video Sport that his injury is “healing well” and it could possibly be six or seven weeks when he does return to the pitch for Tottenham, the head coach made a joke about the player’s medical qualifications.

“I’m not sure about James’ medical qualifications, whether we should go with his diagnosis,” said the 58-year-old. “I’ll leave it to the medical team. As far as I know, it’s going along OK.”