Decision made on Son Heung-min’s Tottenham availability for FA Cup third round tie against Burnley

The 31-year-old is shortly expected to link up with the South Korean national team ahead of the Asian Cup, which gets underway on January 12.

With Spurs in cup action against Vincent Kompany’s men on Friday, January 5, there was hope among the Tottenham fanbase that their star man could play one final game before jetting off.

But Postecoglu has put those hopes to bed, confirming Son will be unavailable.

When asked if Son could play against Burnley in the FA Cup, Postecoglu said: “No, he won’t be [available]. He’s going away.”

Tottenham will also be without the services of Pape Matar Sarr, who was already due to jet off for the African Cup of Nations before he picked up a hamstring injury in the weekend win against Bournemouth.

Key first-teamers Micky van de Ven, James Maddison and Cristian Romero are also sidelined, while Ivan Perisic, Manor Solomon and Ryan Sessegnon are all out for the long haul.

Dejan Kulusevski returns to the fold though having served a suspension in the game against Bournemouth.

Spurs were also boosted by the earlier than anticipated return of Rodrigo Bentancur.

"It's super," Postecoglou said before the Bournemouth game. "He's had a good training week with us and I had a good chat with him yesterday and he was really keen to get back.

"With all the injured lads, they're all a bit frustrated they can't help the team out at the moment so having him back is great, particularly after the short turnaround from the other day.”