Daily Mail

Tottenham captain Son Heung-min will to miss today’s Premier League clash against Manchester United through injury.

The Korean was substituted in the 3-0 Europa League victory over Qarabag on Thursday night with a suspected hamstring issue.

Spur head coach Ange Postecoglou said that his star forward was hoping to training on Saturday which would have boosted his chances of playing against Erik ten Hag’s team.

‘Sonny, I don’t think is too bad,’ the Australian boss said.

‘He wants to train tomorrow (Saturday) and we will see how it goes and make a decision from there. We have another day up our sleeve to give him every chance.’

But Mail Sport has learned the forward will miss the visit to Old Trafford in news that will arrive as a blow to Postecoglou’s hopes this afternoon.

Following a difficult start to the season that saw them win just once from their opening four games, Tottenham are on a run of three successive victories as head into today’s clash against United.

But Son’s absence arrives as a blow to the Tottenham’s hopes against United later.

Dominic Solanke, who has scored two in two, Brennan Johnson and Dejan Kulusevski will be hopeful of playing in attack in Son’s absence.

Dimitar Berbatov joined Man United from Tottenham on September 1, 2008

Spurs also accepted an offer from Man City just hours before he joined United

LISTEN NOW: It's All Kicking Off!, available wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday and Thursday

Dimitar Berbatov has recalled how Manchester City tried to hijack his summer deadline day transfer from Tottenham Hotspur to Manchester United in 2008.

The Bulgarian striker eventually moved to Old Trafford in a deal worth £30.75 million, with Fraizer Campbell going the other way on a season-long loan.

But just hours before Berbatov completed his switch to United, Tottenham accepted an offer from City.

Managed by Mark Hughes, City had just finished ninth in the 2007-08 edition of the Premier League - two places above Spurs, but 32 points behind champions United.

Hughes never even got to talk with Berbatov after the player swiftly made his feelings clear to his agent.

'They wanted to sign me on the last day of the market,' Berbatov recently told The Telegraph. 'I told my agent: "F*** off, we're going to United". Because of the history, the prestige, the players, the manager, the shirt. I never had any doubt that Old Trafford was the right decision.'

Berbatov was greeted by United manager Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester airport.

He added: 'I was shocked because it can be intimidating and especially for me, stepping out the plane and bam you see Sir Alex!

'I was like, "what do I say, how do I address him, will I look stupid?" I had all these questions in my head, but he was great.

'He took us to Carrington and the drive in the car was like science fiction. I didn't even know what to say. It was a perfect day. Exhausting, but perfect, because I had worked so hard to get there.'

Berbatov spent four seasons playing for Ferguson's United side. During that period, he scored 56 goals in 149 games and lined up alongside the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Carlos Tevez.

He described Ronaldo as a 'great professional', before adding: 'We shared a year together, he was starting to grow by leaps and bounds. He trained like an animal, he tried his best to be the best. It was nice to see that dedication up close. I don't remember him missing a single training session.'

United won the Premier League title twice during Berbatov's four seasons at the club.

Berbatov also experienced glory in the League Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, but not the Champions League, despite United reaching the final in 2009 and 2011.

Dominic Solanke has insisted he feels no pressure to take take up Harry Kane's mantle at Tottenham and revealed the chat he had with the England skipper following his £65million transfer from Bournemouth.

Solanke appears to have found his footing in north London and will arrive at Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Sunday on the back of two goals in as many games.

The 27-year-old is no stranger to the spotlight that comes with playing or a big club, having started his career at Chelsea before completing a switch to Liverpool.

And ahead of Tottenham much-anticipated Premier League clash, he revealed that he's also unfazed by the prospect of replacing Kane - the club's all-time leading scorer, who left for Bayern Munich last year.

'Harry is who he is. I don’t think anyone would want to see him replaced anyway.' He told The Mirror. 'He’s a world-class striker. But I’m here now and I want to score as many goals as I can for Tottenham and hopefully we can win some trophies.'

Tottenham's wait for a trophy will reach its 17 years at the end of the season. It's a drought that has seen the club lose several world class players, including Kane.

The England captain returned to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with Bayern during pre-season and Solanke shed light on the private talk he had with the Spurs hero.

'Harry came into the changing room and I spoke to him - we had a few words and he obviously only had good things to say about the club.' Solanke continued.

'It was probably just what you expect. But he spoke so highly about Spurs, how good the players and staff are here.'

All things considered, Spurs have adjusted well to life without Kane.

Last season they finished just two points off the top four in Ange Postecoglou's first year at the club. Solanke, meanwhile, was scoring 21 league goals for the Cherries.

His form prompted Spurs to swoop for a big-money deal, which those connected to the club hope will finally enable them to clinch some silverware.

At the very least, Spurs are desperate to be back in the Champions League and victory over a rival like United will go a long way to achieving that aim.

Solanke added: 'Everyone knows how big of a club United is so it’s going to be a tough game. But we are not scared of anyone so we will go there and be on the front foot and hopefully we can get another result.'

Tottenham's official X account ruffled feathers following their 3-0 over Qarabag

The tweet appeared to be dig at Arsenal's draw with Manchester City on Sunday

SOCCER A-Z: Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on YouTube. New episodes every Wednesday

Tottenham's social media team have infuriated Arsenal fans with a post on X, formerly Twitter, following their 3-0 win over Qarabag.

In a game delayed by travel chaos, Ange Postecoglou's side were reduced to ten men when Radu Dragusin was shown a straight red card on seven minutes.

Rather than adopt a more conservative approach in the wake of the sending off the hosts went on to the front foot against their Azerbaijani opponents.

Brennan Johnson continued his recent resurgence with a fine strike to give them the lead just minutes after Dragusin's red.

Spurs continued to press their advantage after the interval and goals from Pape Matar Sarr and Dominic Solanke ensured the victory.

Following the game, the club's official social media account shared stats from the match with the caption: '10 men and we never stopped playing our football.'

The post appeared to be a reference to north London rivals Arsenal, who adopted an extremely defensive approach after Leandro Trossard saw red against Manchester City on Sunday.

The Gunners had gone in front just minutes before the Belgian's dismissal but their lead would ultimately come undone after John Stones equalised in the dying moments of the game.

The apparent dig clearly did not go unnoticed by Arsenal fans, who were quick to retort in the comments.

One wrote: '4 big chances conceded. Please give them up to Haaland and see what happens.'

Another added: 'One play against the best club in the world at the moment, and one played against Qarabag there’s levels to this game.'

A further fan opined: 'What a shameless thing to tweet on the official account. It’s even worse cos we’ve beaten this f****** 3 consecutive times at their ground.'

A number of Arsenal fans also pointed out their recent record against their bitter rivals, particularly at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs have won just one of the last eight meetings in the north London derby, with the last coming in May 2022 during Antonio Conte's time in charge of the club.

Ange Postecoglou has provided on update on Son Heung-min's fitness after he was forced off in Tottenham's 3-0 dismantling of Qarabag in the Europa League.

The Spurs skipper came off with 20 minutes to go for Timo Werner having had medical attention, moments after his shot was parried into Dominic Solanke's path for the side's third goal.

Tottenham face Manchester United on Sunday and with Richarlison and Wilson Odobert already out, Postecoglou does not need another body on the treatment table.

Spurs were fine against Qarabag, with Brennan Johnson and Pape Matar Sarr also getting in on the scoring, but tension is building after a middling start in the league.

On Son, Postecoglou said: 'I haven't spoken to him.

'He said he felt a bit tired but I haven't spoken to him or medicals yet.'

Tottenham were left with 10 men after seven minutes when Radu Dragusin received a straight red card on his first European start.

Dragusin let a simple pass from one of his team-mates drift past him near the halfway line, allowing Qarabag striker Juninho to steal possession and have a clear run on goal.

Unable to catch the Brazilian, Dragusin instead decided to pull him down to the ground that prompted an immediate red card from the referee. It was, as fans wrote on X, 'diabolical defending'.

Gridlock in London meant the match got underway 38 minutes late as the Azeri visitors got caught up in traffic.

Rail and road closures for a variety of reasons combined to cause chaos for the visiting team and thousands of fans who had to find alternative routes through relentless rain to reach N17.

The TNT Sports team, including pundits Peter Crouch and Glenn Hoddle, were also caught out and had to abandon their vehicle and set out into the rain on foot.

'Imagine being caught in traffic for more than two and a half hours. I cannot just make excuses for this; it shouldn't have happened and there were no police to escort us,' said Qarabag boss Gurban Gurbanov.

'It had a big impact on our footballers, but it doesn't take away from our opponent. They are a good team and we don't turn a blind eye to that.

'As soon as we arrived, we were told to start in 40 minutes and we were not as ready or prepared as we should have been. These things shouldn't happen.'

Once the match was underway home fans were treated to enough entertainment, though the hosts only had 10 shots to Qarabag's 14.

Johnson opened the scoring after 12 minutes - his third goal in as many games - while Sarr doubled their lead shortly after half-time.

Qarabag had a golden opportunity to halve the deficit on 58 minutes but Tural Bayramov skied a spot-kick and Solanke punished them 10 minutes later when he capitalised on a poor save from Mateusz Kochalski to poke home.

'It was just not a great start for us,' Postecoglou said. 'We were really passive with our passing. Whether it was the delay to the game or whatever, but it's no excuse.

'So having a 35-minute delay, delays warm-ups, delays all sorts of things but you've just got to deal with it and we've got to deal with it better than what we did tonight.

'We kind of shot ourselves in the foot and unfortunately Radu [Dragusin] paid the ultimate price for it. But as a team, we just didn't start the game in the way we wanted to and the way we needed to and made the game challenging for us.

'The response was great, absolutely, but disappointed we had to be in that position.'

Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Peter Crouch believes that there are very few midfielders better than Yves Bissouma when he is on top form.

Bissouma made the 60th appearance of his Spurs career on Thursday night when he started in a UEFA Europa League game against Qarabag.

This was Bissouma's fourth outing of the season, despite manager Ange Postecoglou having suspended him for Tottenham's opening fixture of the campaign after footage emerged of the 28-year-old inhaling nitrous oxide in August.

Bissouma made amends on his return from that club ban by scoring his first goal for Spurs in a 4-0 win over Everton.

He also made an impressive cameo in last weekend's 3-1 win over Brentford.

Bissouma was the subject of a pre-match discussion on TNT Sports ahead of Thursday's game.

When asked by presenter Lynsey Hipgrave how good Bissouma could potentially be for Spurs long term, Crouch replied: 'It's just consistency. I've seen games where I think he's one of the best midfielders in the Premier League.

'I think he's got that much ability and he's got players around him who can get on the ball. I think he can do a bit of everything.

'He's fantastic as a defensive midfielder but I think he's got a little bit more than that. He can play as well. He can go past people. He can pick passes out.

'He's an all-round midfielder and he's someone who I think, if he regains the trust of his manager and wins the belief of the fans, I think he'll be a mainstay for a long time at this club.'

Another ex-Spurs star Glenn Hoddle added: 'When I saw him at Brighton I thought he was outstanding. That player is in there at the moment still.

'He hasn't quite shown that yet at Tottenham. He's done some very good things but he's done some silly things as well where I think: "You've got to be more responsible in that position."

'But he's got a little bit of absolutely everything as a midfield player.'

Radu Dragusin suffered a horror start on his first European start for Tottenham as the defender was sent off following a straight red card offence in Spurs' Europa League opener.

Ange Postecoglou was hoping to kick-start his side's quest for a first European trophy with the visit of Azerbaijan side Qarabag FK and decided to rota mix of players for the tie.

Dragusin had played in just two matches this season before Thursday's cup clash and was given the chance to put himself in Postecoglou's future plans with a start on the UEFA stage.

However, the 22-year-old, who joined in January for £25m, soon found himself wishing the Tottenham pitch would swallow him up after a torrid piece of defending less than 10 minutes into the game.

Dragusin let a simple pass from one of his team-mates drift past him near the halfway line and allowing Qarabag striker Juninho to steal possession and have a clear run on goal.

Unable to catch the Brazilian, Dragusin instead decided to pull him down to the ground that prompted an immediate red card from the referee.

Spurs fans were left fuming following their defender's moment of madness, with one critic on X hitting out at the Romanian, stating: 'Dragusin that is diabolical defending.'

Another unhappy supporter similarly fumed: 'No complaints from me, stupid from Dragusin there.'

Others weren't quite as harsh with one post stating: 'Knew it was a red straight away as soon as he got past Dragusin. Stopped a clear attack. Correct decision from the ref. Should’ve just let him go on to goal. Not worth it.'

Dragusin offered little protest to his sending off and walked glumly back to the dugout as Postecoglou staunched the dugout looking furious as what was meant to be a comfortable tie was now unnecessarily difficult.

However, Spurs adjusted well after going down to 10-men and scored a quick opener just five minutes after Dragusin's untimely departure as Qarabag looked short of ideas.

Brennan Johnson finished off a neat attacking move to relieve some pressure before Qarabag grew in confidence and went close with a couple of chances of their own just before half-time.

TNT Sports pundit Peter Crouch has revealed how he and Glenn Hoddle were forced to abandon their car and complete the journey to the Tottenham Stadium on foot to arrive before kick-off.

The Europa League clash was delayed by 38 minutes after severe rail and road problems resulted in Spurs' opponents Qarabag arriving at the ground only 15 minutes before the scheduled start time.

TNT cameras were on hand to show the away side finally arriving at their north London destination, when the former Spurs striker revealed his own difficulties getting to the ground.

'Hopefully they ran down the High Road like me and Glenn!' Presenter Lynsey Hipgrave said: 'You had to abandon the car, didn't you?'

'Ah, we did. We gave up with the car.' Crouch replied, before Hoddle added: 'Peter ran and I limped.'

A suspended line on London Overground and the closure of A10 in both directions were the big factors in the chaos on Thursday night.

When Spurs and Qarabag were finally able to get underway, the match started in the worst possible fashion for the home side, who saw centre-back Radu Dragusin dismissed for a professional foul in the 10th minute.

But, despite their numerical disadvantage, Ange Postecoglou's side took the lead just five minutes later with Brennan Johnson's pinpoint finish from the angle.

The game was initially set to begin at 8pm at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

It was pushed back to 8.35pm after Qarabag arrived much later than planned

LISTEN NOW: It's All Kicking Off!, available wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday and Thursday

Ange Postecoglou's first Europa League tie as Tottenham boss was delayed as visitors Qarabag were caught up in the gridlocked streets of north London.

The Azeri champions failed to make it to the stadium from their hotel, only a short distance away in Stratford, in time to kick off as scheduled at 8pm.

Rail and road closures for a variety of reasons combined to cause chaos for the visiting team and thousands of fans who had to find alternative routes through relentless rain to reach N19.

The TNT Sports team, including pundits Peter Crouch and Glenn Hoddle were also caught out and had to abandon their vehicle and set out into the rain on foot.

The former Spurs favourites joked about it on air. 'We gave up with the car,' said Crouch. 'Peter ran and I limped,' added Hoddle.

The nearby A10 was closed and several Greater Anglia trains were cancelled with unconfirmed reports of a fatality on the line.

The Qarabag team bus finally arrived at 7.45pm with long-serving head coach Gurban Gurbanov looking distinctly unimpressed but they agreed to prepare as quickly as possible for a kick off at 8.35pm.

According to UEFA regulations 54.01 both teams are supposed to be there 75 mins before kick-off and those who fail to comply are open to punishment, although a first offence is usually a warning.

Qarabag are not the first to be caught out by the notoriously congested streets around the home of Spurs.

Tottenham's previous European fixture was delayed by 10 minutes when both teams arrived late due to bad traffic.

That was against Milan in the second leg of a last 16 Champions League tie in 2023, when Antonio Conte's team were unable to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg and crashed out.

They did not qualify for European competition last season for only the second time in 18 years.

Manchester United were also late for a 4pm fixture at the old White Hart Lane stadium in 2016, forcing the kick-off back by 30 minutes.

Spurs updated fans about travel issues at 5.16pm with a tweet that read: 'Please note, the A10 is currently closed in both directions north of the Great Cambridge roundabout. We advise fans attending tonight to plan their travel accordingly.'

A second update 70 minutes later added: 'London Overground services from Cheshunt and Enfield Town to White Hart Lane are currently suspended.'

The delay to kick-off was then confirmed by the club at 7.16pm with 'severe travel disruption' given as the reason.

Spurs published their teamsheet at 6.47pm when it was revealed that manager Ange Postecoglou had named a strong starting XI.

Postecoglou made six changes from the side that began Saturday's 3-1 win over Brentford, but still included the likes of Son Heung-min, Dominic Solanke, Yves Bissouma, Micky van de Ven and Guglielmo Vicario.

Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie, James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancu were all included among the substitutes.

Another Spurs starter was Brennan Johnson, who spoke of his excitement at getting the European campaign underway in a pre-match interview with TNT Sports.

'Really excited it is something all the players are looking forward to,' he said. 'We are looking to get a good start.'

On his recent form, Johnson - who has scored two goals in his last two games for Spurs - added: 'It is about getting in the the right positions - we have a really creative team.

'The last two games I have been able to do that. We have had two good performances and we are looking to carry that on.

'I think it's a good opportunity for us and we have a great squad. Nights like tonight are a good way of getting the squad going.'