Ange Postecoglou must start Richarlison v Burnley as new Tottenham injury update emerges
Tottenham need to get back to winning ways quickly in the Premier League as their Champions League hopes are slowly drifting away.
Ange Postecoglou’s side sit seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa but have a game in hand over Unai Emery’s team and know that they simply have to win against Burnley on Saturday (11 May) to climb into the top four.
It won’t be easy against Vincent Kompany’s side, especially as they continue to battle to avoid the drop to the Championship this season, but Spurs boss Postecoglou will have been boosted by a new Injury update.
According to Football London’s Alasdair Gold (10 May), the Lilywhites boss confirmed in his pre-match press conference that he has no fresh injury concerns and will have to pick from the same side that played against Liverpool.
Will Richarlison start for Tottenham and Ange Postecoglou v Burnley?
While Postecoglou would have certainly liked to have one of Ben Davies or Timo Werner back fit and available, it is good to hear that no further knocks were picked up in the damaging defeat at Anfield.
But the Spurs boss now has to turn to Richarlison and throw the Brazilian back into the starting XI for only his second start in the Premier League since February.
In his 29 minutes of action against the Reds, the 27-year-old completed 75 per cent of his 12 attempted passes, one of which laid on a goal-scoring chance which was well converted by Son Heung-min late in the second half, according to Fotmob.
Four of the substitute’s nine attempted passes found a teammate in the final third of the pitch, more than any of Son, Brennan Johnson or Dejan Kulusevski managed throughout the entirety of the game.
On top of that, the centre-forward finally gave Tottenham a genuine goal threat at the top end of the field. Richarlison got on the scoresheet with one of his two efforts in the match, finding the net with a right-footed shot that registered an xG of 0.47.
In the North London derby against Arsenal, Richarlison had a similarly positive impact from the bench, completing 100 per cent of his attempted passes and battling away at the top end of the field to cause William Saliba and Gabriel some problems.
The 27-year-old won 67 per cent of ground duels in the match and only lost one of his aerial battles, all while managing to win his side two free-kicks as they fought their way back into the contest.
Creatively, Spurs have really struggled to impact games in recent weeks, especially when Son has been used as the central striker and while Richarlison isn’t the most prolific of forwards, he is the best option Postecoglou has.
When compared to his positional peers in the Premier League this term, the Brazilian international places in the top nine per cent for non-penalty goals scored per 90 minutes, with an average of 0.66 a game, according to Fbref.
That is partly because of the fact that he takes more shots than the average forward. Currently, the Spurs star places in the top nine per cent of strikers for shots taken per match and efforts on target per game.
For comparison, while Son places in the 79th percentile for non-penalty goals per game, he sits in the 53rd for shots taken per game.
If Postecoglou wants to put Burnley to the sword he needs a more selfish presence at the top of the field.
Will Spurs and Ange Postecoglou qualify for the Champions League?
Spurs need to win their last three games to have any hope of a top-four finish and even then it will likely come down to what Villa do in the coming weeks.
Now that Richarlison has been reintegrated back into the squad slowly following his injury issues, the time has come to unleash him consistently for the final weeks of the season to try and keep the Champions League dream alive.
Postecoglou must start the Brazilian against Burnley.
In other Tottenham news, the door is now open for Spurs to complete a summer push for Conor Gallagher after new Chelsea developments
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