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Postecoglou hopeful over Kulusevski injury ahead of Spurs' Europa final / Photo: © AFP
NYSE - LSE
Postecoglou hopeful over Kulusevski injury ahead of Spurs' Europa final
Ange Postecoglou is confident Dejan Kulusevski will be fit for the Europa League final after the forward was injured in Tottenham's 2-0 defeat against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Eberechi Eze struck twice for the FA Cup finalists at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to leave Postecoglou's side languishing in 17th place in the Premier League.
Tottenham booked a Europa League final with Manchester United on May 21 after they sealed a 5-1 aggregate victory over Bodo/Glimt on Thursday.
But their wretched domestic form continued as they slipped to a 20th league loss this season.
It marks Tottenham's worst-ever tally of defeats in the Premier League area after they twice lost 19 fixtures in the 1993-94 and 2003-04 campaigns.
To add to the under-fire Postecoglou's problems, Kulusevski had to be replaced after 19 minutes.
But Postecoglou provided a positive update on the Sweden international after he lost Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison to season-ending injuries last week.
"Medical team are not too concerned with him, more of a knock than anything else, so we're hoping he should be OK," Postecoglou said.
"It's not helpful when you lose another player, it's the fine line we're trying to navigate at the moment. That aside, it was a disappointing performance and nowhere near the level it should be.
"Guys had an opportunity today to put their name forward and put some pressure on the guys who played the other night. Fair to say there wasn't any compelling evidence of that.
"That's what I'm trying to push with these guys, that sometimes in football you've just got to take the opportunities there before you. They're never going to be perfect.
"We made eight changes but there is an opportunity there and you've just got to take it when presented to you and I'm disappointed more didn't step forward today."
Postecoglou decided against bringing on Brennan Johnson, Richarlison and Dominic Solanke after the draining semi-final second leg at Bodo/Glimt.
He also kept Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven on the bench, effectively gifting the win to Palace to keep his stars fresh for the final in Bilbao.
"I get it and people are banging the drum about this record with defeats, but if people don't see there is a correlation between the two," he said.
"It's not exactly Pythagoras theorem. It's quite simple to understand we would have had much better results if we didn't have to navigate this. So, either you understand or you don't and beat us over the head, I get it."
Y.Harris--SFF
