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Son Heung-min has told how Rodrigo Bentancur was on the brink of tears as he apologised for the racist slur which has sparked an FA investigation.

Bentancur is still waiting for the verdict and could be hit with a lengthy ban but his Tottenham captain has already forgiven him.

'At the moment because of the FA process I can't say much about it,' said Son. 'But I love Rodrigo, I love him. We've a lot of good memories since we started playing together when he joined.

'He knew and he apologised straight afterwards. We were on holiday. I was at home. I didn't even realise what was going on when he sent me a long message and you could feel it was coming from his heart.

'When we came back for pre-season he felt really sorry, and almost cried when he apologised publicly and personally as well. He felt like he was really sorry. We are all human and all make mistakes and we learn from it.'

Bentancur, 27, was on Uruguayan television in June when he was asked by a presenter for a Spurs shirt. 'Sonny's?' he replied. 'It could be Sonny's cousin too as they all look the same.' The FA charged him with misconduct earlier this month.

'I love Rodrigo. I love him, I love him,' said 32-year-old Son as he addressed the matter for the first time in public.

'He knows he made a mistake but I've no problem at all with him. We move on as a team-mate and friend and as a brother. We move on together.

'We have to wait for what the FA says in their process. I can't say much but what I can say is I love Rodrigo, there's nothing more to say.'

Son's contract expires at the end of this season although there is a clause for one more year which Spurs intend to trigger when they consider the time is right.

'We haven't talked about anything yet,' said Son, who signed from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015.

'I am very focused for this season. At this age, every second is like a goal. We are in a lot of competitions and I just want to win something. That's what I'm working for. In the future you never know what's going to happen. I still have a contract and I will make sure I give everything for this club.'

If points were handed out for irritability Tottenham would not be wallowing in midtable. Not with Ange Postecoglou setting the tone.

Getting narkier by the game, in a hurry to take umbrage, seemingly aghast there have not been more gushing reviews about his team's performances.

On Saturday after beating Brentford, he was annoyed to find himself fielding questions about his goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario handling outside the penalty area and getting away with it.

'Okay, look I guess we were lucky to get the result,' he sighed with the sort of heavy sarcasm Pep Guardiola likes to deploy when press conferences are not to his liking.

Spurs had scored three and won deservedly so Postecoglou would rather have been discussing how well they had played, basking in acclaim for his thrilling style of football after a week with arrows fired in his direction in the wake of defeat in the North London derby.

Losing at home to Arsenal always tends to heighten the senses in N17. Postecoglou snapped tetchily afterwards about how he 'always wins trophies in his second season' and woke next day to headlines declaring the Ange Ball honeymoon to be over and the sound of Tottenham supporters growing uneasy about his unyielding commitment to such an attacking brand of football.

Inside the camp though, they were feeling hard done by. They had not played poorly and lost only narrowly to a very good team.

Cristian Romero thought it necessary to alert the world via a repost on social media to the fact Spurs had not seen fit to lay on a private jet to get him home sooner from international duty in South America.

Whether this was Romero's excuse for being nudged aside and beaten in the air by Gabriel Maghalaes for the goal, his contribution to the debate on player welfare or simply him marking out his long run for an attempted move to Real Madrid remains to be seen.

None of the Spurs players had been at all keen to talk after losing to Arsenal but after scoring his first goal of the season against Brentford,

James Maddison told Australian broadcasters Optus Sport: 'We lost to Arsenal and we dominated the game. They were resilient, they played long ball, they played for second balls. The football basics as I say.'

Maddison also said he had been pleased with his form all season albeit with no recognition because he has not been scoring and the team had not been winning. He wasn't complaining, he was making the point, and the point was fair.

Ultimately everything comes to be viewed through results. Increasingly, there's a race to judgment after every single game as part of a relentless cycle of analysis across many different platforms.

It must make it a more confusing time than ever to be ensconced in the manager's office at Tottenham where attacking style is supposed to count for everything based on something that happened all those decades ago. And yet only to a point.

Only if you're winning and winning and winning. And that sort of form is very difficult in the Premier League, especially if you are committed to playing an open brand of football without paying the salaries to command the very best players in the competition, which means the very best players in the world.

Once you're not winning consistently then that all-out attacking style is fine but where's the Plan B? That's what people demand to know. And the demand for Plan B is effectively code for a demand to surrender principles and put victory above all else.

For years under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal played some of the most fluent and attractive football seen in the modern era.

It made them one of the world's most popular teams and created their enormous global fanbase but when the billionaire owners changed the Premier League landscape, the pretty football did not go down so well without the same degree of success.

Now, under Mikel Arteta they can be easy on the eye but are moreover a team looking to win and prepared to do what it takes to get the result.

In the big games they might be closer to George Graham's Arsenal than Wenger's and few hardcore fans will complain that they are no longer the best ticket in town if they win something big.

The best ticket in town is to see Postecoglou's Spurs because they can transform any old mundane looking fixture into a nerve-shredding adrenaline ride. Little wonder he appears exhausted when the final whistle goes. And thus we might forgive him his irascibility.

Five things I learned this week...

New Champion League's format hits lukewarm note

UEFA have successfully captured the essence of pre-season friendlies with their new format for the Champions League. A blur of games, hard to keep on top of as they pop up at different times on different days on different channels with an almost complete absence of jeopardy. As first impressions go that's all a bit tepid. It might come to the boil somewhere near Christmas but don't expect all these extra games to serve up much beyond the same old names once we get around to spring.

West Brom's Maja could finally be fulfilling potential

Josh Maja is thriving at West Bromwich Albion with six goals in six games. London-born Maja is 25 and has never quite fulfilled the potential on display when he first broke through at Sunderland.

He went to Bordeaux in France, had loan spells at Fulham and Stoke, and his first season at The Hawthorns was disrupted by injury. This season he has not looked back since a hat-trick on the opening day. He scored the only goal against Plymouth on Saturday and Carlos Corberan's team are top of the Championship.

Clemence revelling in manager's role at Barrow

Stephen Clemence is making a splendid start to his new job as manager of Barrow, top of League Two after seven games and with an interesting couple of fixtures ahead this week.

On Tuesday, Clemence will take his team to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup and then on Saturday to Gillingham, the club level on points who sacked him in the summer after less than six months in charge.

Family matters for England's interim boss Carsley

England's interim boss Lee Carsley took a break from his scouting duties to see son Callum making his debut for Nuneaton Town, the latest incarnation of the club formed after the latest demise of Nuneaton Borough. They are playing home matches at nearby Bedworth Town and won 7-0 against Allexton and New Parks in Midland League One.

Hodgson's former lieutenant Lewington back to help son at MK Dons

Former England coach Ray Lewington is back on the touchline. Roy Hodgson's trusty assistant through various roles until their departure from Crystal Palace in February is helping his son Dean, who is now a player-coach and plunged into his third spell as caretaker manager of Milton Keynes Dons when Mike Williamson left abruptly for Carlisle last week. The Lewingtons were tracksuited on the touchline during Saturday's draw with Doncaster Rovers, who played for 80 minutes with 10 men at the Stadium MK.

Former Newcastle co-owners Merhdad Ghodoussi and Amanda Staveley were spotted at Tottenham Hotspur last Saturday, as VIP guests of owner, Daniel Levy.

The visit to Spurs comes amid speculation the husband and wife duo, who are also business partners, could be set to invest in the north London club alongside other Middle Eastern backers.

According to sources from The Sun, the British business executive, 51, now wants to buy a stake in Tottenham and is being backed by 'serious money from a funding team of individuals, which includes some from the Middle East'.

The Yorkshire-born businesswoman led efforts to acquire the Tyneside club back in 2021, as part of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund's (PIF), efforts to gain a footing in European football.

She and her husband exited the club in July, after executives decided to take the club in a new direction.

Staveley admitted that she was 'devastated' but 'didn't want to get in Newcastle's way' after she and Ghodoussi sold their six per cent stake in the Magpies to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the Reuben family in July, after three years at the helm.

The pair had initially helped broker the landmark £305million Saudi-backed takeover of Newcastle back in 2021, which ended Mike Ashley's unpopular 14-year reign at the club.

Staveley has now reportedly set up a 'fresh' consortium of investors and 'hopes to take an initial stake in Spurs'.

Forbes state that Spurs are currently valued at around £2.42billion ($3.2bn). Should Staveley wish to purchase a 25 per cent stake in the club it would cost approximately £605m. The 51-year-old has reportedly already raised £500m through her investment fund PCP Capital Partners.

The outlet adds that the investors will subsequently look to increase their stake in the north London outfit.

Tottenham were purchased by ENIC Group (English National Investment Company), in 2001, with Joe Lewis's family trust becoming the club's new majority owners.

In 2023, Lewis was removed as 'a person with significant control of the club' following a 'reorganisation of the Lewis Family Trust'. It came after Lewis had been charged with 19 counts of insider trading, claims which he pleaded guilty to in a US Court earlier this year.

Lewis had previously entrusted Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy with the daily operations of the club, who holds a 29.88 per cent stake in ENIC, along with other members of his family.

In April, Levy confirmed that Spurs were looking for new investors, with Mail Sport having previously revealed that the chairman was open to selling a stake in the club.

Hayley Raso, the mercurial Matilda with a touch of magic in her boots, has begun her comeback to England's Women's Super League with a magnificent individual goal for Tottenham.

The 30-year-old, whose year-long spell as the first Australian ever to play for Real Madrid proved a frustrating stop-start affair but featured some dazzling moments, kicked off her third spell at a WSL club with a beauty to launch Spurs' 4-0 win over newcomers Crystal Palace on Sunday.

On another busy day for the Matildas' contingent in the WSL, summer signing Raso really introduced herself to the Spurs' faithful at Brisbane Road in the 19th minute when she found space in the Palace half and, despite being shadowed by three defenders, embarked on a speculative run.

Trademark ribbon flowing, Raso first turned Katrine Veje inside out, weaved into the right of the box, and swivelled to strike the ball into the opposite corner, not with the greatest connection but directed perfectly to give keeper Shae Yanez no chance.

'I feel like it was rolling slowly, so I just said 'please go in, please go in' ... Really good team performance, everyone's happy to start off the season like that and to get a goal topped it all off for me,' smiled Raso, who was making her bow alongside Spurs' other new Matildas' signing, central defender Clare Hunt.

Hunt, snapped up from French club PSG, didn't have much to do, while Tottenham's other Australian international Charli Grant just enjoyed a few minutes off the bench, while Raso may have been left frustrated by missing a golden chance for a double minutes after her goal.

But the former Everton and Manchester City winger continued to be a constant threat, and was Spurs' player of the match as they went on to win with second-half goals from Jessica Naz, Drew Spence and Olga Ahtinen.

'They've been lovely, super supportive,' Raso said of her new teammates. 'Credit to the girls here, they've made the transition easy for us, we've gelled well pre season and I think we've showed that today. I've found my feet pretty quickly.'

There was a titanic clash at the Emirates Stadium as Arsenal starters Kyra Cooney-Cross and Caitlin Foord went head-to-head with Manchester City's Mary Fowler and Alanna Kennedy, who both came off the bench in a thrilling 2-2 draw to open the season.

Foord helped initiate Arsenal's opener with a bright run down the right flank that set up Frida Maanum's goal but City, pipped for the title by Chelsea on the final day last season, equalised after the break through their new superstar striker Vivianne Miedema, the former Arsenal ace, who didn't celebrate out of respect.

A brilliant long-range effort from England international Jess Park looked to have given City the victory but Arsenal sub Beth Mead volleyed in a late equaliser.

Fowler, who came on for Miedema after 74 minutes, had been dropped to the bench despite scoring for City in the Women's Champions League win at Paris FC in midweek and she'll have a fight to get her starting place back with star Jamaica striker Khadija Shaw also having returned to the starting XI.

James Maddison says Bryan Mbeumo's volley could be a goal of the month

The midfielder scored Spurs' third goal as Tottenham beat Brentford 3-1 at home

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James Maddison was full of admiration for the blistering volley by Bryan Mbeumo, his fourth goal of the season and the second time in successive Premier League outings Brentford had struck within seconds of the kick-off.

'When they score that early there's shellshock around the stadium,' said Maddison.

'We're all looking at each other, 'what do we do now' kind of thing, because you don't plan for that in a gameplan.'

Brentford do plan for it, though. It might be coincidence that Mbeumo hit the net after 22 seconds, precisely as Yoane Wissa had done in a defeat at Manchester City a week earlier, but Thomas Frank treats the kick-off like a set-piece and at the start of a game as a chance to catch opponents cold.

'Of course, it's one of the more difficult to score from but we see it as a set-play situation we can set up and control as much as possible,' said Frank.

'We work on the kick-offs. Some of it is the ball forward but also what you do on the second balls and where you position yourselves after that.'

This one went back to goalkeeper Mark Flekken who fired it towards towering wing-back Kristoffer Ajer and they pounced on the scraps in midfield, worked the ball left to Keane Lewis-Potter and his cross was fired into the net by Mbeumo.

'To be fair, it was a fantastic finish by Mbeumo, it'll be up there for Goal of the Month,' said Maddison, who scored Tottenham's third in the 85th minute to complete the comeback win. Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson were also on target for Spurs

The freebie row engulfing Sir Keir Starmer deepened tonight as it was revealed that he shared lavish football hospitality with a powerful lobbyist who backed the hated breakaway Super League.

The Prime Minister and his embattled chief of staff Sue Gray enjoyed a corporate box at Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday, just hours after fresh ‘Wardrobegate’ allegations emerged about clothes Sir Keir and his wife had taken from Labour donor Lord Alli.

Tickets were funded by Spurs, one of the six clubs which mounted the 2021 attempt to leave the Premier League – a plan that was abandoned following a furious reaction from fans.

And sitting next to Ms Gray – who is facing open revolt in No 10 over her management style – was Katie Perrior, the founder and chair of iNHouse Communications, which worked on the attempt to form the Super League. Other clients include tech giants such as Google, who have been criticised for their legal tax avoidance.

Sir Keir’s party for Tottenham’s clash with his beloved Arsenal also included Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Senior Tory MP John Glen said: ‘Is there no freebie that Sir Keir will not take? His behaviour is as hypocritical as it is incredible. And in view of Labour’s plans for a new football regulator, his presence and that of Sue Gray is a clear conflict of interest.’

Sir Keir has accepted nearly £40,000 worth of free tickets for football matches over the past five years, which critics say threatens his impartiality over the planned regulator, which would have the power to stop teams joining breakaway leagues and to block investment from controversial countries.

Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty said: ‘Keir Starmer pledged to crack down on lobbying yet he seems comfortable to be lobbied if it affords him privileged access to watch Premier League football. For the governance of our national game to be agreed by the PM via informal meetings in VIP boxes over prawn sandwiches, with Sue Gray again shaping policy and without Civil Service oversight, should be a huge concern to football fans across the country.’

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was tonight accused of breaching parliamentary rules by failing to declare that a friend had joined her on a personal holiday funded by Lord Alli.

The friend, Sam Tarry, paid for his flights but stayed with her at the Labour peer’s $2.5 million apartment in Manhattan for the New Year’s Eve break. Rayner’s team claimed that Tarry’s stay did not need to be officially registered.

The revelation that Ms Gray used the Tottenham hospitality box comes as she faces mounting opposition within Downing Street over her ‘heavy-handed’ and ‘cronyist’ management style.

In a development which will increase the pressure on her, sources have told The Mail on Sunday that Ms Gray personally signed off the controversial pass to No10 which Lord Alli used in the weeks after the general election.

This newspaper can also disclose that the Prime Minister’s officials are in open revolt about being cut out of meetings with Sir Keir. All 12 senior civil servants in his private office have either quit, asked to be moved or said to be considering leaving.

The Daily Mail published an exclusive picture today showing Ms Gray in tense talks with Michael Bourke, the principal private secretary to Cabinet Secretary Sir Simon Case, who has been battling Ms Gray over access to the PM. An onlooker told the MoS: ‘It was unbelievable – it certainly wasn’t a nice conversation. He looked upset and she wasn’t smiling at any point... I’ve never seen anything like it before.’

Sir Keir has received many more freebies than any other MP since becoming Labour leader, receiving £107,145-worth since 2019. Lord Alli was the biggest donor, giving the equivalent of £39,122, including accommodation worth £20,437.

The PM and his top team bowed to pressure this weekend and said they will no longer take donations for clothes. He accepted £16,200 of clothing and glasses worth £2,485 from Lord Alli. Chancellor Rachel Reeves accepted £7,500 for clothing while Ms Rayner took donations worth £3,550.

Lord Alli proposed mandatory voting to reduce the ‘influence of money in politics’, according to the Daily Telegraph, citing a speech he made in July. It also reported he had demanded a crackdown on the press, calling for a new offence of ‘corporate intimidation’ to tackle what he called the ‘bullying’ of public figures by newspapers.

Arsenal has made two corporate seats available to Sir Keir in Emirates Stadium, which the PM says he took for security reasons.

Ms Perrior, who worked as director of communications for Prime Minister Theresa May from 2016 to 2017, was not available for comment, but there is no suggestion that she used the match as an opportunity to lobby Ministers.

A Downing Street source said the tickets were paid for by Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Ltd and would be declared ‘in the usual way’.

Former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha was left perplexed as VAR appeared to miss Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario handle the ball outside his box.

The incident occurred early in the second half as Tottenham looked to preserve a 2-1 lead over Brentford at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

But a moment of madness from Italian goalkeeper Vicario will have had Spurs fans' hearts in their mouths.

The Italian gloveman contested for the ball with Brentford's Mikkel Damsgaard on the edge of the 18-yard box.

However, Vicario appears to touch the ball not once, but twice with his hands outside of the box.

Despite the seemingly overwhelming video evidence, neither Alex Chilowicz or Darren Cann, who were on VAR and assistant VAR duties respectively, picked up the indiscretion.

VAR's lack of intervention left Onuoha baffled.

'Earlier, Guglielmo Vicario comes out of his area and makes three attempts at touching the ball,' Onuoha said on BBC's Final Score.

'From the angle we see the third touch, if there was another angle of it, I think they would say that it came outside the box, so that would be a red card.

'It is strange VAR has missed that, very strange, because that is a big moment in the game.'

Onuoha wasn't alone in his surprise at no action being taken against Vicario as several fans voiced their opinion on X.

One fan said: 'How has Vicario got away with this...'.

Another posted: 'How has neither the referee or VAR not seen this blatant handball by Vicario??? More awful officiating in the Premier League.'

A supporter added: 'This is embarrassing. How did Vicario get away with this?

Even Brentford's official account on X was stunned no officials picked up on it.

'Huge appeals for a handball against Vicario', Brentford's mid-game update read.

'He misjudges a cross and appears to handle it outside his area to prevent Damsgaard shooting but nothing is given!', followed by an angry emoji.

In Tottenham's post-match press conference, a reporter asked Postecoglou whether he saw Vicario's supposed handball, and the Spurs boss responded: 'I think I saw exactly what you saw'.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank took a diplomatic approach to the incident, but made clear it was a handball.

'Not only looked, he had handled it outside the box, but that incident did not define the game,' Frank said.

'It was a mistake. It could have been a free-kick to us. It could have helped us. But hey, you never know. I think the probability of scoring from a direct free-kick is like 0.0543, so probably not the biggest probability for scoring anyway.

'And I think John Brooks (referee) overall had a very good game. The way he handled soft fouls both ways was really good.

'I understand how it is. We can't be too, I don't like the word aggressive, but, in-their-face because it's just our frustration. We can't do anything about it. Hey, move on.'

Brentford were ultimately unable to find an equalising goal as James Maddison's strike in the 85th minute put the result beyond doubt for Tottenham.

The result was much-needed for Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou after the team's north London derby loss to Arsenal last Sunday and an unconvincing win over Coventry City in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

As for the Bees, the loss to Tottenham was their third from their last four league games albeit the other defeats came against Liverpool and Manchester City.

James Maddison ended a wait of 195 days, a torturous drought during which he suffered the blow of omission from England's squad for the Euros, and he did not try to conceal his delight as his delicate clip found the net.

Off came the shirt at the expense of a yellow card as he basked in the applause and out came the celebration darts, which had caused such a petty old rumpus featuring expert wind-up merchant Neal Maupay on Brentford's previous visit to N17.

The away fans jeered Maddison's name before this game, but the Bees rarely fail to spark him into life and his goal, Tottenham's third in the 85th minute, topped a splendid personal display and soothed late nerves for Ange Postecoglou.

Spurs had gone behind to a wonderful volley by Bryan Mbeumo inside a minute before recovering to lead at half time through goals by Dominic Solanke, his first for the club, and Brennan Johnson, his second in four days.

But wasted chances kept the game tight and Brentford were chasing a point when Yves Bissouma won the ball in defence. Cristian Romero found Heung-min Son, who made the final pass, and Maddison finished with style.

'We should have won by a fair bit more, but we still got the job done,' grumbled Postecoglou. 'You're always keeping the opposition in the game and that's been the story of our season so far. It was a quality goal with three of our four captains involved in it. It was important to finish the game off.'

Brentford, for the second weekend in a row, stunned their hosts within a minute. At Manchester City, it was Yoane Wissa who fired them into a shock lead with only 22 seconds on the clock. Here, with Wissa among eight first-teamers ruled out by injury, it was Mbeumo.

As at the Etihad Stadium the goal was recorded at 22 seconds and it was one to savour. Worked from right to left where Keane Lewis-Potter twisted clear of Pedro Porro and crossed. Mbuemo drifted away from Micky van de Ven and volleyed it first time with his left foot into the top corner.

As at the Etihad, however, the lead did not last long, and the Bees were trailing by half-time. Solanke equalised as Spurs pressed the visitors into a mistake as they played out of defence.

Maddison picked off a stray pass by Ethan Pinnock, drove into the penalty area and tested Mark Flekken who pushed his save to Solanke.

Still only eight minutes had gone and Tottenham assumed control. Maddison caused problems in the channel between Sepp van den Berg, on the right of a back three and wing-back Kristoffer Ajer.

Brentford defenders hurled bodies in front of shots and smothered attacks, and Flekken made saves, the best of them at the feet of Son when he was through on goal.

Johnson punctured the resistance. He was a stoppage-time hero in the Carabao Cup in Coventry in midweek and here he collected a Son pass, beat Nathan Collins for pace and finished inside the far post.

Both goalkeepers delivered thrills and spills with a blend of terrific shot-stopping and risky passing moves deep in their own areas. Guglielmo Vicario made fine saves from Mbeumo and Mikkel Damsgaard and the pick of them from Kevin Schade when his team led 2-1.

Spurs keeper Vicario also escaped despite handling the ball outside his penalty area, having chased after a cross he came for and fumbled, in the second half.

Referee John Brooks missed the offence, and the VAR did not intervene as they ruled it not a red card because it was not an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Frank reacted angrily and picked up a yellow card but accepted it had not changed the game.

'He handballed it outside the box,' said the Bees boss. 'It didn't define the game. It wasn't a penalty and it wasn't a red card. It was just a free-kick outside the box which John should have seen. I think he refereed a good game, that was just a small thing. If you come here, you need to get everything to maximise your chances.'

Tottenham signed Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth in a club-record deal

The club were interested in Ivan Toney before the ace moved to Saudi Arabia

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Ange Postecoglou has revealed Tottenham chose to sign Dominic Solanke over Ivan Toney because he wanted the former Bournemouth striker more.

Spurs held an interest in Toney during the summer transfer window, Postecoglou has confirmed, but eventually decided to swoop for Solanke in a £65million deal.

Both Solanke and Toney are believed to have attracted no shortage of potential suitors and the latter went on to move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli for £40m.

England hopeful Solanke, 27, scored 21 goals in all competitions for the Cherries last season but was determined to take a step up and compete in Europe.

Explaining Spurs' choice, Postecoglou said: 'We looked at him, but the reality was that Dom [Solanke] is the one that I wanted. It took the whole summer to get him in, but he was the one that fitted the profile that we wanted.'

Postecoglou has also urged supporters to be patient with the frontman and avoid rushing to judgement after his difficult start to life at the club.

Solanke has yet to score his first goal for Spurs in his three appearances this season but his manager is confident he will come good.

'He's settled in really well,' Postecoglou added. 'There's plenty more to come from him, because he got injured. He's only played two-and-a-bit games for us.

'He just needs to get some games under his belt. But what I've seen in the games he has played, he's going to be a real asset for us.

'I've got no doubt he'll be a great contributor.'

Spurs' club-record signing, Solanke made his debut against Leicester City in their Premier League opener but then suffered an ankle injury.

He went on to miss out on matches against Everton and Newcastle but made his return in the north London derby defeat by Arsenal last weekend.