Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that Son Heung-min and Yves Bissouma are both fit to start for the Lilywhites against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
Both men have returned to Hotspur Way following the conclusion of their international exploits, as Son's South Korea suffered a surprise Asian Cup semi-final exit to Jordan on Tuesday.
Three days prior to Son's heartache, Bissouma's Mali were dumped out of the Africa Cup of Nations with a 2-1 loss to host country Ivory Coast, and the pair have since been put through their paces at Hotspur Way.
Addressing reporters in his pre-game press conference, as quoted by football.london, Postecoglou stated that both Son and Bissouma are in contention to make the first XI this weekend, while Giovani Lo Celso has also trained after a thigh injury.
A similar issue will render Ryan Sessegnon unavailable for the time being, though, and fellow winger Manor Solomon is still on the mend from his severe knee injury and recently underwent another operation, which will sideline him for another two to three weeks.
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"Sonny got back on Wednesday, did recovery on Thursday but trained with the team today. Biss trained, he obviously joined up as well this week. Lo Celso trained this week. I think the only ones still out are Solomon and Sessegnon at this stage," Postecoglou said.
"Definitely Sonny and Biss [are ready to start]. They trained well. Gio trained all week but he's obviously missed a fair bit of football so we'll have to see how he is and whether we give him another week or not."
The Tottenham boss also corrected claims from Mali coach Eric Chelle that Bissouma had been playing through malaria during the Africa Cup of Nations, revealing that the midfielder's viral infection had cleared up by the time the tournament began.
When asked about Chelle's comments, Postecoglou said: "No, that's not right. He had a slight form of malaria before the tournament started but it cleared up after the tournament started. He had no issues after that."
Tottenham return to their North London base on the back of a disappointing 2-2 draw with Everton last weekend, where they let a pair of one-goal leads slip, although the Toffees' first goal was controversial as Jack Harrison backed into Guglielmo Vicario during a corner routine.
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The officials on VAR - which Postecoglou has repeatedly voiced his dislike for - cleared the incident, and the Australian also hit out at reported plans from the IFAB to trial blue cards, which would lead to a 10-minute sin bin for cynical fouls or dissent.
Postecoglou claimed that the frequent new additions to the game are causing football to go backwards in comparison with other sports, adding: "I don't think people will be surprised by my thoughts on it. I struggle to understand why this urgency all of a sudden to bring in new things.
"I don't know if there's that much wrong with the game as I see it. My biggest issue with the game right now is that VAR has changed the experience, whether you're a player, a manager or a supporter or whatever you are I think it's changed the experience of football.
"What I do know about other sports is that most of them are trying to introduce rules to speed up and unclutter their game. We're going the other way and I don't know why. That's always been the difference with football compared to other sports. Football always has a life of its own. and within that there's mistakes, there's flaws and imperfections.
"Other sports tend to be able to stop and start and stop and start without affecting it. Even in that, most sports I look at are trying to speed up their game and make it a better spectacle. I don't know why we're trying to go the other way. I guarantee though that I won't be in the room when they're making those decisions."
Tottenham sit fifth in the table ahead of the weekend's fixtures, but they will leapfrog Aston Villa into fourth place for at least a day with victory over the Seagulls.
Ben Knapton
