Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham have shown growth under his management following the club’s 4-0 win at Aston Villa last weekend.
Spurs boosted their hopes of Champions League qualification with an emphatic win at their top-four rivals last weekend, a result that moved the north Londoners within two points of Villa, with a game in hand.
Postecoglou’s team take on Fulham this weekend and the Australian praised his team for handling the pressure of a huge fixture last time out.
“It helps when you win in a significant game,” he said at a pre-match press conference.
“I liked the way we handled the whole game, the build up to it, their supporters have been formidable at home. We handled it really well and stayed focus.
“It was another sign of growth for us as at team. We got that outcome because we were really focused and played our football.”
Spurs will again be without Micky van de Ven, who was substituted with a hamstring injury at Villa, though Postecoglou has provided a positive update on the Dutch defender.
“It’s not as severe as his last one [hamstring injury], nowhere near as severe and he probably came off at the right time so he will miss tomorrow but with the international break, pretty confident, if things go well, he won’t miss too much more.
“The only other one is Richy [Richarlison], he trained today so we will see how he pulls up. If he pulls up OK, he will probably be available against Fulham.”
Radu Dragusin is set to make his first Premier League start with Van de Ven out and Postecoglou is confident the January addition will ‘bring something different’ after an encouraging performance off the bench at Villa Park.
“I’ll take the suspense out of it. He’ll start tomorrow. He’s had to be patient for his opportunity with Micky [van de Ven] and Cristian [Romero] being outstanding and one game a week. I thought he did well with his opportunity [as a substitute against Aston Villa]. I think he can bring us something different.”
