Tottenham Hotspur have been dealt another injury concern
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Tottenham Hotspur have it all to do in the second leg of their round of 16 Europa League tie against AZ Alkmaar after losing 1-0 on Thursday night. Lucas Bergvall’s own goal was the only thing to split the sides, as the Eredivisie club take a one-goal lead back to North London next week.
Up next for Spurs is a Premier League clash with Bournemouth at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before they welcome Alkmaar to North London. Ange Postecoglou’s side then make the short trip to West London to take on Fulham in their final game before the international break.
Spurs have claimed just 33 points from their 27 Premier League fixtures so far and are all-but out of the race for European football next season. Their best chance of clinching a spot in Europe next season is by winning the Europa League. They will need to come from behind to do that now but scoring goals has not been a major issue for the club this season. In fact, only league leaders Liverpool have more in the Premier League.
Fresh Solanke concern
That impressive goal tally comes despite summer signing Dominic Solanke spending a number of weeks out injured. The former Liverpool and Bournemouth man made his return on Thursday as he was introduced in the 72 minute. However, he picked up a fresh concern and was taken off in stoppage time and replaced by Dane Scarlett.
Addressing the issue, Ange Postecoglou was hopeful the issue was not serious. He said: "I am not even sure. It looks like a knock, but I haven’t really seen it. Hopefully, it's nothing too bad."
The injury to Solanke comes after Dejan Kulusevski picked up an injury that has ruled him out until after the March international break. Providing an update before Thursday’s loss to Alkmaar, Postecoglou said: “He's had a knock on his foot. It's been sore last couple of weeks, but he has been able to train and play and still get through it, but it wasn't getting better, so we did some further investigations but there's no real clarity. We're just waiting on a couple of things to find out the extent of it. But he's unlikely to be back before the international break.”
Postecoglou reacts to defeat
Reflecting on Thursday’s loss, Postecoglou told Tottenham’s website: "It wasn’t great from us tonight, pretty much in all facets of the game. We didn’t really get to grips with any part of the game. We struggled to gain any momentum with the ball, we weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be without the ball. It was a tricky surface, but having said that, we knew that from (training). We just didn’t tackle the challenges we had out there in a positive way. That allowed AZ to get into a rhythm, which when you’re playing away from home, it is difficult to stem the tide."
He added: "I don’t think it’s a matter of effort or attitude. I don’t think it is going out there and not trying, but like I said, we didn’t really come to grips and have the right mindset to tackle an away fixture in Europe. It is always tough and we obviously conceded the goal, which was a disappointing set of events, but even after that we didn’t really settle down into the game at all. You are going to face some pressure when you play away from home in Europe and weather the storm and get to grips with it, but we never really did so that was a disappointment."