Tottenham lifted by reinforcements – Ange Postecoglou after win at Brentford | OneFootball

Ange Postecoglou said the prospect of injured players returning has lifted Tottenham after they ended a winless run of seven Premier League matches with a 2-0 victory over Brentford at Gtech Community Stadium.

Captain Son Heung-min was in the thick of the action in west London, with his corner turned in by Vitaly Janelt for an own goal in the 29th minute before he also assisted substitute Pape Sarr for Spurs’ second.

Micky van de Ven was involved in the Europa League win over Elfsborg on Thursday and while he was absent against Brentford, the Dutchman is “likely” to feature in Spurs’ Carabao Cup second leg against Liverpool on Thursday.

Djed Spence returned with an impressive performance against the Bees and Postecoglou, whose side came into the game on a run of four straight league losses and seven without a win, said: “It’s great for the supporters and the players, they are all hurting.

“They don’t want to see their team (losing), it’s not where we want to be (14th in the table) and we need to rectify that, but it’s great to see us enjoy the game and get the rewards for it.

“It’s the same group of players who have to play Thursday and Sunday and you can’t get away from the fact that playing Thursday and Sunday consistently without being able to rotate takes a toll.

“The Premier League is relentless and you’re meeting teams who’ve had seven days’ break and we’ve had 48 hours.

“From that perspective the pleasing thing is that we had Micky back on Thursday, Djed in today and we’ve signed Kevin (Danso), the group now are getting encouragement and energy from getting some help and I have no doubt they’ll assist us in addressing our position in the league.”

Despite some shaky spells in the first half, the defensive partnership of Archie Gray and Ben Davies were resilient as they kept their hosts’ goal threats quiet.

Spurs, who are reportedly close to agreeing a deal with Chelsea for Axel Disasi, signed Danso on loan with an obligation to buy from Lens over the weekend.

“It’s great to get Kevin in, we desperately needed a defender,” Postecoglou added when asked about the signing.

“Getting him is great because he’s a great fit for us. He’s had a strong career and he’s at an age now (26) where he wants to kick on and he has all the attributes we look for. We’re really pleased and it will be a lift for the whole group.”

Brentford were a shadow of their usual selves on a day where the threat of 14-goal Bryan Mbeumo was mitigated by a quality showing from Spence at left-back.

“It felt like a missed opportunity,” Bees boss Thomas Frank said.

“It was a good battle (between Spence and Mbeumo), a battle I think Spence will enjoy more than Bryan and he defended him well.”