Son to miss Tottenham visit to Brighton

The 32-year-old forward sustained a hamstring injury on Sept 26

LONDON:

Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min will be unavailable for their Premier League trip to Brighton & Hove Albion, manager Ange Postecoglou said on Friday, and the South Korean international will also miss two World Cup qualifying matches.

The 32-year-old forward sustained a hamstring injury during a Spurs' Europa League match against Qarabag on Sept. 26 in London.

"Sonny is unlikely, he's pushing hard, but the turn around might be too quick for him to be available at this stage," Postecoglou told reporters on Friday. "First thing's first, we're all good after last night (in Hungary), tired, but physically no issues of the guys who stayed back. Destiny we think will be okay. We train today and tomorrow, so he has to get through that."

The Korea Football Association said on Friday Son has been dropped from the 26-man squad for the third round of World Cup qualifiers to protect the player's health.

South Korea play Jordan on Oct. 10 and Iraq on Oct. 15. Tottenham's new striker Dominic Solanke was named in England interim manager Lee Carsley's squad for next week's Nations League games against Greece and Finland, seven years after gaining his only senior cap.

Asked if he was surprised by the decision, the Australian coach said: "I don't know about being surprised, with Dom he's had to work awfully hard in his career. It's important to all young players that the trajectory doesn't always go in a linear fashion.

Tottenham's previous Premier League trip to Brighton in December last year ended in a 4-2 defeat. Brighton lost 4-2 to Chelsea in their last match and have picked up nine points from six games.