Rodrigo Bentancur has made a shock return to Tottenham’s starting XI (Photo: Getty)
Ange Postecoglou has hailed Rodrigo Bentancur’s ‘super’ and speedy recovery after he made a surprise return to Tottenham’s starting XI.
Spurs host Bournemouth on New Year’s Eve and are looking to end 2023 on a high after a woeful 4-2 defeat at Brighton last Thursday.
Postecoglou has made two changes to his team from the loss at the Amex, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and the suspended Dejan Kulusevski dropping out.
Taking their places are midfield duo Giovani Lo Celso and Bentancur with the inclusion of the latter coming as a shock to everyone.
The Uruguay international was not even expected to be in the squad, let along starting, after suffering a bad ankle injury during the 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa at the end of November.
The 26-year-old had only just returned from an ACL injury that had sidelined him for eight months and this fresh issue was set to rule him out for another two months.
As a result, he wasn’t expected back until February but has seemingly a miraculous recovery to play against the Cherries.
Bentancur suffered an ankle injury in November (Photo: Getty)
Discussing Bentancur’s shock inclusion in the line-up, Postecoglou told Sky Sports ahead of kick-off: ‘It is super. He’s had a good training week and we had a good chat with him yesterday and he’s keen to get back.
‘All of the injured lads are a bit frustrated. Having fresh legs with him and Gio in the middle will help us.
‘We have started to make progress, but that is only good if it continues. We are going through a tough spell, certainly in terms of player amiability but in the main our performances have been strong.
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‘They [Bournemouth] have been good for a while. We played Everton here last game and they were similar.
‘We know it is going to be a challenge but that is the Premier League. Every game is an opportunity to stumble. We’re going to have to be at our best to get a result.’
Bentancur’s return may be big boost for Spurs, but they still have a large number of players out injured, including James Maddison, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero.
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He started against Bournemouth – two months before he was expected to be back on the pitch.