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- South Korea international Son, 32, has missed the club鈥檚 past seven fixtures with a foot injury
- 鈥淗alf hopeful that we get Sonny some minutes tomorrow so he鈥檒l be the only one that sort of can come back in,鈥� Postecoglou said
LONDON: Ange Postecoglou says he is 鈥渉alf hopeful鈥� that captain Son Heung-min will return on Sunday as he makes plans for Tottenham鈥檚 showdown with Manchester United in the Europa League final.
South Korea international Son, 32, has missed the club鈥檚 past seven fixtures with a foot injury, including both legs of Tottenham鈥檚 5-1 aggregate win against Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League semifinals.
鈥淓veryone got through OK the other night. Half hopeful that we get Sonny some minutes tomorrow so he鈥檒l be the only one that sort of can come back in,鈥� Spurs boss Postecoglou said on Saturday.
鈥淚 think what we do know about Thursday night, playing on an artificial pitch (in Norway) takes a lot out of the players, it鈥檚 fair to say they were sore.鈥�
Defenders Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie are expected to be rested against Palace.
Tottenham are a lowly 16th in the Premier League ahead of their match against Palace 鈥� a point and a place below United.
But they reached the semifinals of the League Cup and have a chance to win their first silverware for 17 years in the Europa League.
The Australian will bring up a century of fixtures as Tottenham boss in the Europa League final against United in Bilbao on May 21.
鈥淚t鈥檇 be a nice little bow there for that 100 and it鈥檚 been a really full 100,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 fair to say I鈥檝e experienced just about every emotion in it and hopefully the one main emotion we鈥檙e all after will be the joy at the end of it.
鈥淲e have had a ridiculous injury-riddled season coupled by the fact we鈥檝e done really well in two competitions and that is 60 games.
鈥淪o, it has felt 鈥� and certainly for me personally it has felt 鈥� like a really, really long season.
鈥淏ut you just get energy and realize what happened the other night and you鈥檙e so close to achieving something special that it all dissipates into the background, so you get the energy you need.鈥�