Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - August 19, 2024 Tottenham Hotspur's Dominic Solanke applauds fans after the match REUTERS/Hannah Mckay
LONDON (Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur's new striker Dominic Solanke is back in training and should be available for Sunday's north London Premier League derby against Arsenal, manager Ange Postecoglou said on Friday.
Solanke signed from Bournemouth in a deal worth up to 65 million pounds ($85.47 million) but after making his debut against Leicester City he missed the next two games with an ankle injury.
Postecoglou will also have defender Micky van de Ven available again after he missed the defeat at Newcastle United before the international break.
"Micky is all good, he's trained fully over the international break. Dom (Solanke) is back with the first team, training today so again, we've got training tomorrow, if they get through alright, I guess they'll be available." Postecoglou told reporters.
Tottenham have had a mixed start to the season, picking up four points out of the nine available with a failure to convert enough of their 48 goal attempts in those games costing them.
"Results come sooner rather than later. We've got to stay consistent in our approach. We dominated all three games," Postecoglou, who is looking for his first win in the north London derby, said. "Results haven't come but if we maintain that over 38 games we'll be in a good position.
"We've got to keep at it. Stay focused on the important elements of our game."
Tottenham had marginally the better of the away clash with Arsenal last season, a game that ended in a draw, but lost 3-2 at home after trailing 3-0 at halftime.
Arsenal have re-emerged as Premier League title contenders under Mikel Arteta and Postecoglou said the Spaniard has instilled a relentless mentality in his squad.
"They have this confidence in themselves that they can challenge over the course of the season," Postecoglou said. "They're going to be a tough nut to crack, but it's a great opportunity for us."
Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur will likely start for Tottenham on Sunday despite facing Football Association charges for comments he made about teammate Son Heung-min during an interview in his home country.
"(The charge) was not unexpected from our perspective, we kind of knew that it would be something that gets looked at," Postecoglou said. "We need to let the process sort of play out now and Rodrigo is well aware of the ramifications."
Bentancur apologised to South Korean Son for what he said was a "very bad joke" after saying during a TV interview that "they all look the same".
"Sonny and Rodri had their discussion about the incident," Postecoglou said. "Both players understand and respect each other's position.
"Rodri has already apologised for what he said, and Sonny has accepted that and accepted that one of his teammates and a person he is close to has made a mistake.
"For me, it's not just about punishment. It's about an opportunity to understand and to learn."
($1 = 0.7605 pounds)
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
