Son Heung-min is a doubt for Tottenham‘s Premier League match with Crystal Palace on Saturday after sustaining a calf injury while playing for South Korea.
The 29-year-old has returned to London for treatment after playing the full 90 minutes of South Korea’s 0-0 draw against Iraq in a World Cup 2022 qualifier on Thursday.
Son subsequently missed South Korea’s 1-0 win over Lebanon in their second and final game of the current international break on Tuesday.
A Korean Football Association statement on Tuesday read: “Son felt discomfort in his right calf after training yesterday.
“Today he was undergoing a medical check, as a result of a test on a right calf muscle sprain. Therefore he was excluded from today’s match for player protection.”
Tottenham will hope that Son’s withdrawal from the South Korea squad is merely a precaution given his impressive start to the season and their upcoming tricky run of fixtures. After playing Palace this weekend, Spurs face Chelsea and Arsenal in their next two Premier League matches.
According to Transfermarkt.com, Son has only suffered from one calf injury during his career to date and on that occasion, didn’t miss any matches. More recently, he has had a susceptibility to hamstring problems, suffering three separate strains since the start of the 2020-21 season.
How long could Son be out for?
Calf strains are graded from 1-3 depending on their severity*:
Grade 1: A mild strain where usually only a few muscle fibres are strained – 1-3 weeks recovery.
Grade 2: A moderate strain where muscle fibres are torn but there is not a complete rupture – 4-8 weeks recovery.
Grade 3: A severe tear that can cause a complete rupture of the muscle – 8-12 weeks recovery.
*Via the NHS website
Son has been the match-winner in each of Spurs’ opening two home games of the Premier League season, in 1-0 victories over Manchester City on the opening weekend and Watford just before the international break.
The forward has started in all three of Tottenham’s league games this season, helping Nuno Espirito Santo’s side rise to the top of the table.
Lucas Moura and summer signing from Sevilla Bryan Gil are the most obvious candidates to replace Son in the starting line-up should he be unavailable to play.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2Yqh3mG
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