With ongoing injury issues at Tottenham Hotspur as we prepare for this weekend’s clash with West Ham United at White Hart Lane, next midweek as we face Ajax in the first leg of our Champions League Semi-Final we already know we will be without Son Heung-Min.
The 26-year-old South Korean has been key for us of late in terms of his goal return and his form now we are back on home soil, but he misses Tuesday evening’s action through suspension – a one match ban for two yellow cards.
Speaking to Sky Sports this week about missing out on the game, Sonny joked that he’d probably be more nervous sitting in the stands than he would be if he was out on the pitch, but he backed his teammates to get the job done without him.
“I try to be positive but missing this semi-final makes me so sad, so disappointed. I’m a very positive guy, I’m very comfortable with the lads so I’ll probably be more nervous watching in the stands than when I play. But I trust my team, I trust my players, I trust this stadium so I’m not worried about it. As I said, I’m very sad and disappointed but I am looking forward to watching this unbelievable game in our stadium, with our lads. I think I’m going to enjoy it.”
Having come to our rescue a couple of times this season, Sonny is obviously going to be quite a miss for us and it does give manager Mauricio Pochettino a bit of a headache ahead of the tie, but just as Spurs aren’t the ‘Harry Kane’ team, neither are we the ‘Sonny’ team.
Time for someone else to step up and given Son will have played his 50th game of the season (club & country) come Saturday afternoon, he should certainly benefit from a day off and we’ll hope we see the benefit of that in the few games that remain.
He’ll definitely be looking to make the most of the second leg!