(Reuters) – James Maddison is expected to be available for Tottenham Hotspur’s game against Bournemouth after he picked up an injury in their win over Manchester United, manager Ange Postecoglou said on Friday.
Maddison finished the game on Saturday but was later seen leaving the stadium wearing a protective boot, and did not train until Friday.
“Madders trained today unrestricted. We’ll see how he holds up but at the moment he will be available,” Postecoglou told reporters ahead of Saturday’s game.
“I think it was the incident when (Cristian) Romero got brought down, he had a shot and it was a block tackle. His ankle was a bit sore after that but the medical team looked after him.”
The 26-year-old midfielder joined Spurs from Leicester City in June for a reported fee of 40 million pounds ($50.48 million) and has played in Spurs’ two games this season. His manager said they did not rush the player’s return.
“There was no real push to have him available. It was down to him. People would have seen him in a moon boot but it was more precautionary. He has felt good and probably could have trained yesterday.”
Spurs have impressed in their opening two games after a 2-2 draw at Brentford and last weekend’s 2-0 win over Manchester United and are hoping to improve on last season’s eighth-place finish under their new manager. Postecoglou, however, is urging caution.
“We’re two games in, I’m not reading too much into anything. I want to establish some foundations for who we want this team to be,” he said.
“It’s always good to have some positive outcomes, but we’re still very much in an embryonic stage of building this team, and the way we want to play.”
Spurs travel to take on Bournemouth on Saturday, a team who took one point from their first two games.
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(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Toby Davis)
