Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has revealed that Pape Sarr was playing through the pain of a back injury in Saturday's 3-1 win over Crystal Palace in a Premier League London derby.
The Senegal international was dropped to the bench for the visit of Oliver Glasner's side to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Rodrigo Bentancur partnered Yves Bissouma in the engine room.
Sarr was brought on in the 82nd minute as Tottenham wound the clock down, but despite only enjoying a brief cameo appearance, he was not moving totally freely in the dying embers of the game.
Tottenham have already lost Richarlison, Pedro Porro and Fraser Forster to injuries over the past month, while Manor Solomon and Ryan Sessegnon - the latter of whom could miss the rest of the season - are working their way back from operations.
Speaking in his post-game press conference, as quoted by football.london, Postecoglou confirmed that Sarr was currently being 'restricted' by a back problem, but his issue has not been serious enough to prevent him from training.
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"He's had a bit of a back issue since he got back from sort of the Africa Cup of Nations. He's been dealing with it and it's getting better but it's not sort of totally free, so it's something we're working on with him," Postecoglou said.
"It doesn't stop him training, he's still been training, but it does restrict him, it's something we're constantly working on but from what I understand he'll be fine. Like I said he hasn't missed training so it's just something we're working on with him."
The Australian oversaw a frustrating first half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where the Lilywhites were bereft of first-half threat against a defence-heavy Palace side, who then took the lead in the second half thanks to a stunning Eberechi Eze free kick.
The Englishman's strike saw Tottenham concede first for the fourth Premier League home game running, but Timo Werner - who was guilty of fluffing a one-on-one with Sam Johnstone in the first half - atoned for his earlier error with a calm finish to get Tottenham back on level terms.
The German's equaliser came only a few moments before Cristian Romero headed in from James Maddison's delivery, and as Palace pressed high to try to find a late leveller, Son Heung-min exploited the space in behind to seal a derby-day success for the hosts.
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While he was disappointed to see his side fail to keep a clean sheet at home yet again, Postecoglou lauded his side's "outstanding" response to falling behind, adding: "I was pleased with the whole game.
"First half was a difficult half for us because when a team sits so deep and we had to initiate the play, we had to stay really patient and make sure you work the opposition and I felt we did that. We didn't create a lot but we had a couple of great chances.
"You need that goal to break open a team that is going to sit so deep. I still felt like we were putting enough work into them that at some point we would be able to break them.
"Obviously we conceded which was disappointing because apart from the free-kick they didn't really threaten us at all. You're looking for a reaction and I thought the reaction was outstanding. They just had a real belief today in our processes and our football and I'm really pleased with the outcome."
Tottenham's triumph has no impact on their fifth-placed standing in the Premier League table, though, and they remain five points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa on account of the Lions' 3-2 triumph over Luton Town in the evening kickoff.
The Lilywhites are back on the road next weekend, travelling to Villa Park to face the Lions in a pivotal clash in the race for Champions League football.
Ben Knapton
