Tottenham star drops major North London Derby team news hint before Arsenal game
Richarlison has dropped a major hint that Dominic Solanke could be starting for Tottenham in the North London Derby showdown with Arsenal. Bragging rights - not to mention three Premier League points - will be on the line for the first time this season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (2pm).
Both sides have their own selection concerns heading towards kick-off with Arsenal particularly light in midfield, due to Declan Rice's suspension and Martin Odegaard's injury. As for Tottenham, meanwhile, there were question marks over Micky van de Ven and Yves Bissouma, plus Richarlison and Solanke.
Solanke, who cost Tottenham around £65million this summer when he joined from Bournemouth as the marquee signing, has missed the last two games with an ankle problem. That has restricted the 27-year-old to 90 minutes in a Tottenham shirt, but that could be about to change.
Ange Postecoglou was non-committal - if hopeful - that Solanke would feature in the North London Derby when the Tottenham manager staged his pre-match press conference. He said: "[Solanke was] back half of this week, he joined the first team training.
"We've got training tomorrow [Saturday]. If he gets through okay, I guess he'll be available."
That final training session before collision course with Arsenal co-incided with Solanke's birthday. He turned 27 on Saturday and posted a thank you message on his Instagram profile.
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It read: "Thank you Lord for another year. Thank you all for the love and messages."
His teammate Richarlison popped up in the comments section and, in doing so, indicated that Solanke passed his pre-match fitness test. He wrote: "Sonny [Son Heung-min) will give you a gift tomorrow bro."
Richarlison added a cool guy emoji to his post. Tottenham and Arsenal get down to business at 2pm.