Tottenham suffer major injury blow as Ange Postecoglou faces ultimatum | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur will be without forward Son Heung-min for Thursday's Europa League quarter-final second leg on Thursday - a fixture which could decide manager Ange Postecoglou's future.

Spurs' poor domestic showing this season means they will not qualify for European competition through their final Premier League finishing position, meaning they will not play continental football next year if they fail to win the Europa League.

A 1-1 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg has things delicately poised heading into Thursday's return fixture, but Spurs will be without big-name forward Son after he was left at home to recover from an injury.

"Sonny didn't travel in the end," Postecoglou revealed. "He is the only one who misses out. He has been battling with his foot problem for a few weeks now and has managed through it but it has got too painful in the last few days. He tried to train yesterday and it wasn't right so we made the decision to leave him at home. He went home to recuperate.

"Everyone else is good. The only noticeable addition is Kevin [Danso] who trained and is available as well. So it's only Sonny who misses out.

"It is a blow but it is consistent with everything else that has happened this year. It's just another challenge for us to overcome. It's unfortunate for him. He tried really hard. The reason we left him out on the weekend was to try to give him time to recover because he has been struggling with this foot thing for a few weeks now. But in the end he couldn't make it. We have had these challenges all year and it's just another one we need to overcome."

Postecoglou's job could be on the line / Crystal Pix/MB Media/GettyImages

The pressure on Postecoglou's shoulders has felt somewhat unsustainable for months now but Spurs have clung to hopes of winning the Europa League, qualifying for the Champions League and doing their best to forget this miserable season ever happened.

A decision on Postecoglou's future will be made in the coming weeks but reports suggest that could be accelerated if Spurs fall to Frankfurt on Thursday. Some go as far as to claim he could be sacked in the immediate aftermath of defeat.

"I don't define my career and me as a person by what people think about me," the increasingly aggravated Tottenham boss continued. "Never have, never will. If you don't think I'm a good coach today, you won't think I'm a good coach tomorrow, even if we win. One game ain't going to make a difference to that. I couldn't care less. Really, I couldn't care less.

"There's no burden on me, there's no anxiety on me. We've got a great opportunity to get to the final four of a major tournament and, mate, I'm not going to let that slip by without fighting tooth and nail for it, irrespective of what may come the day after."