Ange Postecoglou has big decisions to make following Richarlison’s latest injury setback

Tottenham Hotspur earned their fifth Premier League win of the season by beating Aston Villa 4-1 at home on Sunday. They comfortably outwitted and outplayed Unai Emery’s side in the second half and moved to seventh in the Premier League standings.

However, the three points at the weekend came at some cost for Spurs as both Richarlison and Cristian Romero were forced off in the second half against Villa. Not to forget, Ange Postecoglou withdrew Son Heung-min early in the second half to manage his fitness levels after just returning from injury but then saw his replacement, Richarlison, go down injured after assisting Dominic Solanke’s second goal.

The Spurs chief revealed that Richarlison sustained a hamstring problem after coming on as a substitute against Villa, resulting in him having to be withdrawn. This has left the Lilywhites sweating over whether the Brazilian striker will be able to make a full recovery in the upcoming games before the international break.

According to an exclusive report from GIVEMESPORT, Richarlison’s injury setback could force Ange Postecoglou to change his mind about managing the minutes of Son Heung-min and Timo Werner.

Tottenham are carefully managing the minutes of both Son and Werner as they look to overcome problems of their own. Further medical checks are set to be made on Son and Werner to gauge whether any of the two are in a position to start in the upcoming Europa League encounter at Turkish giants Galatasaray and Premier League home game against newbies Ipswich Town.

The mounting number of injuries at the Hotspur Way casts a shadow over their encouraging start, raising concerns about the team’s ability to sustain their form given the physical strain on key players. The aforementioned report adds Werner, who scored in Spurs’ 2-1 Carabao Cup win over Manchester City last week, is not fully fit and thus remained an unused substitute against Villa.

As far as Son is concerned, Big Ange doesn’t want to lose his skipper for a lengthy spell on the sidelines. The South Korean is an extremely crucial player for the club, and having recently returned from a thigh soreness, Big Ange, his coaching staff and the medical department are planning to carefully manage his minutes on the pitch.

Tottenham’s preference was for Son to skip the trip to Galatasaray and have a full week’s rest to build his fitness levels against Ipswich Town on Sunday, but Richarlison’s recent setback could compel the Greek-Australian tactician to take a different route. They do have the option of using academy graduate Mikey Moore but the idea of thrusting the teenager into the cauldron that is Galatasaray would be a bold call.

-> Tight wage structure hindered Tottenham from signing England international who Postecoglou wanted

That said, it will be interesting to see how Postecoglou manages the injury problems and gets the maximum output from his team in the two games before the international break.