Dejan Kulusevski has admitted his recent absence from the Tottenham team was down to a stress fracture in his foot. Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou had revealed at the time that his player had been sidelined by a foot issue but never specified the exact nature of the injury.
The Swede made his return to the Tottenham team in the recent defeat at Wolves, before playing 45 minutes at Eintracht Frankfurt last Thursday and then 67 minutes against Nottingham Forest on Monday night. Speaking to SPURSPLAY about the 2-1 home defeat to Forest, the Stockholm-born player opened up on his recovery and stated that he's "feeling great" ahead of some key fixtures on the calendar.
"I'm very angry [with the defeat], but you've got to think about the process. You can't give up. It was good to be back playing football, I felt great and I've just got to be ready for the next game against Liverpool and then the Europa League," said Kulusevski in his club interview.
"I feel great, I've done everything possible to feel good when I came back because I know that with a stress fracture it's not easy, because I couldn't move for a month with a boot on my foot but I did everything right and thanks to that I'm fit now. I'm feeling great so nothing to complain about.
"Honestly I feel great. First start since Ipswich, I came close to scoring. I take the positives, I rest tomorrow and I'll be back the next day."
On his glancing header from Pedro Porro's corner that Harry Toffolo somehow managed to clear off the line, he said: "I've been manifesting it for a couple of months now. I've been waiting for exactly that corner, it finally came.
"As soon as I hit it, I said: 'Finally it's in'. Then, God didn't want it to be inside. It's no problem, it's going to come next time."
Tottenham have had to contend with a busy fixture schedule over the course of the season and that will again be the case as they look to get their hands on the Europa League trophy. Asked about the difference between the Europa League nights and playing in the Premier League, Kulusevski explained how he manages the emotional highs and lows as an individual and trying to get the perfect balance.
"It is. You can see the teams that only play one competition and the other teams that play more competitions," he explained. "It is much more difficult because when you go so high, always the day after you feel drained. You feel no energy and everything. This is what people don't understand.
"That's why you've got to do the right things to be able to come back so you don't drop too much because you lose so much energy and so many things happen in your head when you play big games like that so it's hard to come back. I think that's what footballers have got to figure out."
He added: "I know that some games, you've just got to feel better than other games so I always have a plan. But then, you know that, in life everything can change in a second, like it happened the last time I got injured.
"I didn't plan that, but it just happened. You can have a plan but, usually, it doesn't happen like that. You try to do your best."