FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Europa League - Tottenham Hotspur v Qarabag - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - September 26, 2024 Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min during the warm up before the match Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
(Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min and forward Richarlison are fit to face West Ham United in the Premier League after recovering from injury, manager Ange Postecoglou said on Friday.
Son has missed the last three games after injuring his hamstring against Qarabag in the Europa League late last month. The 32-year-old also sat out of South Korea's two World Cup qualifying matches during the international break.
Richarlison, who picked up a calf injury in training in August, could feature for just the third time this season, Postecoglou said.
"Sonny is good and worked hard the last two weeks. Good for him the two weeks, he's had a solid week and looking to get back out there," Postecoglou told reporters ahead of Saturday's match.
"We've taken our time with Richy and we have taken time to build his fitness base up. He has worked hard, trimmed down, and looks lean. He's good to go now."
The north London club have come through the international break with no fresh injury concerns, with midfielder Lucas Bergvall also doing well after pulling out of Sweden's squad earlier this week.
Spurs, who are ninth in the standings, threw away a two-goal lead at Brighton & Hove Albion in their final match before the international break, ending a run of five wins in a row, and Postecoglou gave a scathing assessment of that performance.
"The question is 'why were we so good in the first half (against Brighton) and so poor in the second?'" the Australian said.
"We were really passive with and without the ball. We lacked real conviction and courage in everything we did. It was almost like we felt like we had done enough."
Returning to the principles that served Spurs so well before the Brighton defeat would be key to getting a positive result in the London derby, he added.
"An important game... a good challenge for us," Postecoglou said. "The emphasis has to be on us reproducing the form we've shown in recent times and more importantly sticking to principles of our game."
(Reporting by Suramya Kaushik in Bengaluru)
