'Worked really hard': Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham talent looks 'really lean' and has been superb in training
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Tottenham Hotspur will be eager to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they host London rivals West Ham United on Saturday.
Ange Postecoglou's charges will lock horns with the Hammers in Saturday's 12:30pm kick-off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Tottenham have dominated in many of their games, showing the potential is there to become a real nightmare for opponents.
However, Spurs have suffered from defensive errors and a lack of consistency in taking their chances and, as a result, they're currently just ninth in the standings.
Meanwhile, the Hammers currently sit 12th and will be high in confidence following their resounding 4-1 win over Ipswich Town last time out.
Tottenham have been boosted by the imminent return of two players who have been on the sidelines, namely Son Heung-min and Richarlison.
Postecoglou spoke to football.london on Friday and shared what Spurs have done differently with his latest road back recovery.
Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham ace Richarlison has ‘trimmed down’
The Tottenham boss revealed that not only has Richarlison recovered from his injury, but he’s trimmed down and is now in amazing shape.
“We’ve taken our time with him but it hasn’t been just about him recuperating and recovering from the injury,” said Postecoglou.
“We’ve tried to use it to build his fitness base up so when he comes back and to be fair to him, he’s worked awfully hard. He has trimmed down, he looks really lean now and has worked really hard.
“We’ve tried to use it almost as a pre-season for him on an individual basis to not just get him to recover from his injury because he probably recovered from his injury a couple of weeks ago, but we’ve used the last couple of weeks to get his fitness base up and him into good physical condition so we don’t have to keep going through this cycle of him coming back and breaking down.
“Like I said, to be fair to him he’s worked really hard and he’s looked really good. He’s had a good week of training and he has missed playing.
“He is a real infectious guy as well so good to have him back with the group.”
READ MORE:Ange Postecoglou shares why Djed Spence has got new Tottenham contract
Richarlison road to recovery
Richarlison has been out of action since Tottenham's 4-0 win over Everton in late August.
He featured for just 24 minutes in that game, alongside being a last-minute substitute against Leicester City the preceding weekend.
Richarlison also suffered from injuries last season, resulting in him struggling to nail down a starting place in the latter stages of the season.
The 27-year-old underwent groin surgery earlier in the 2023/24 campaign, which saw him hit a rich vein of form shortly after his return.
