Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou is hopeful Dominic Solanke could feature against Bournemouth on Sunday.
Solanke was forced off in second-half stoppage time in Tottenham’s 1-0 Europa League defeat to AZ in their last-16 first leg on Thursday. He had only come on as a substitute 20 minutes prior in what was his first match since sustaining a knee injury in January that caused him to miss 10 games.
The 27-year-old went down holding his left hip after a collision with AZ defender Wouter Goes and goalkeeper Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro while jumping for the ball.
Solanke had to be helped off the pitch by medical staff but Postecoglou said on Friday that it appeared to be no more than a “knock”.
“With Dom, I think he got a knee into the back so it’s probably a bit sore,” said Postecoglou. “It’s a knock so hopefully it settles down pretty quickly.”
Solanke, who joined Spurs in a £65million transfer from Bournemouth last summer, also missed two games after picking up an ankle issue on his Tottenham debut against Leicester City. He also missed the 1-0 loss against his former club with illness earlier this season.
In total, Solanke has missed 13 games for Tottenham, despite featuring in all 38 Premier League matches for Bournemouth last season.
Spurs have been bolstered by the return of several players from injury, including centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven. Both defenders were on the bench against AZ, though Postecoglou said that he opted to not play the pair because of concerns he had over the playing surface at the AFAS Stadion in Alkmaar.
“When I saw the pitch the night before I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to risk them,” Postecoglou said.
“It wasn’t a great pitch, it wasn’t steady underfoot and it wasn’t the sort of game I thought I needed to expose them. A couple of extra days training and recovery and hopefully both are in line to feature.”
A toe injury and a hamstring issue have meant that Romero has only played 15 minutes of club football since November 10, while persistent hamstring and fitness issues have seen Van de Ven miss 28 games for Tottenham this season.
Postecoglou confirmed that Ben Davies has returned to training and could feature against Bournemouth, while Richarlison remains out with a calf injury.
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