Antonio Conte continued to put his Tottenham players through their paces with their latest friendly against Peterborough United U21s on Wednesday.
During the World Cup break the Spurs head coach has been working with those players who did not head off to Qatar, while those leaving the competition are slowly trickling back to Hotspur Way in stages. First Tottenham hosted Scottish side Motherwell in a friendly which they won 4-0 at their training complex last Friday and next Wednesday evening they will welcome Nice to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
In between, Spurs faced Peterborough U21s on Wednesday afternoon in another workout as Conte pushed their match fitness and worked on their shape and understanding of his new ideas for the second half of the season. The training ground game against the League One side's youth team ended in a 3-1 win for Tottenham.
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Here are five things we learned from the friendly match, played in freezing temperatures, as Tottenham prepare for their Premier League return on Boxing Day at Brentford.
Missing players and returning stars
Clement Lenglet was back in action this week after missing the Motherwell match with a knock. The Frenchman was the only change to the starting line-up from that game, replacing Charlie Sayers on the left of the back three. The returning centre-back got 69 minutes of action under his belt as he prepares for the Brentford match in 11 days time.
Pape Matar Sarr was the first World Cup player to return to match action, while Son Heung-min, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Ben Davies are all back and at varying stages of training. The latter suffered an abdominal injury and is working his way back from that while Rodrigo Bentancur is also recuperating from his adductor muscle tear.
Sarr came off the bench to replace Yves Bissouma with 21 minutes to go, playing just 10 days after coming on at the break for Senegal in the World Cup last 16 match against England in Qatar - where the temperature was rather warmer.
However, there were four non-World Cup players still missing from the matchday squad in Emerson Royal, Lucas Moura and Fraser Forster and Ryan Sessegnon. All four missed the Motherwell game, the first three with knocks and the latter as he recovers from the injury suffered at Nottingham Forest. We've seen images of the two Brazilians working in the gym as well as Sessegnon - but not Forster.
Djed Spence versatility
Djed Spence got another long run out in front of Conte which is good news for the 22-year-old as he looks to take every rare opportunity to impress the Italian.
Emerson's absence has benefited the England U21 international and after getting 74 minutes against Motherwell, Spence got another 82 of them this time and he showed his versatility along with Matt Doherty.
Spence spent the first half as the right wing-back and then for the second half switched with Doherty to take a role on the left and he was involved in playing Bryan Gil through down that flank on an overlap run before the Spaniard picked out the Irishman to score.
Spence's biggest problem is that while he's getting lots of game time - and that will benefit him in the weeks ahead as he puts into practice what Conte wants from him - that Irishman on the other flank is catching the eye even more.
Matt Doherty on target
Matt Doherty has found his lethal edge during these friendlies and he added another goal on Wednesday afternoon in the chilly Hotspur Way surroundings.
His goal this time was another confident finish, controlling Gil's low cross and drilling home from 12 yards. Soon after he might have had a second goal as well, only for Peterborough's Aaron Powell to make a last-ditch block.
It was another 82 minutes in the tank for Doherty as he looks to return to the form of last season and although these have only been friendlies, with three goals in two games he's doing everything he can to show Conte that he's sharp again and can provide that attacking outlet he wants down the right or left.
Not a good time for Spurs penalty takers
Perhaps Spurs players shouldn't take penalties for a little while. After Harry Kane's uncharacteristic and heart-breaking skied effort against France and Hugo Lloris at the World Cup on Saturday, Yves Bissouma stepped up as the next Spurs man to take a spot kick - albeit in a very different level of game - and unfortunately for him he also could not get it over the line
The Mali international once again showed why he can benefit Tottenham in a more attacking mode as, on 65 minutes, he embarked on a driving run that left three young Peterborough players in his wake before he was brought down in the box. He stepped up to take the penalty himself and hit it low to the goalkeeper's left only for the Posh stopper William Blackmore to read it well and make the save.
The attacking trio combining again
Not many people would have predicted that Spurs' attacking trio in their first two friendlies of this World Cup break would have been Harvey White playing as a false nine between Dejan Kulusevski and Bryan Gil. However, the makeshift attack has worked hard and got its rewards against the friendly opposition in both matches.
On this occasion, White got on the scoresheet 25 minutes in when Kulusevski's corner was headed on by Davinson Sanchez and the 21-year-old academy midfielder tucked it home from close range.
Just two minutes later and Spurs were 2-0 up with Kulusevski again pivotal, racing away down the right and and into the box, drawing out the goalkeeper before squaring to Gil to fire the ball into the empty net.
In the second half, White was denied another goal by Blackmore and the keeper then tipped over a Gil free-kick before the Spaniard was able to set up Doherty for Tottenham's third.
Son and potentially Kane could play against Nice next week, while Lucas may also be back in contention, so the young trio - White and Gil just 21 and Kulusevski 22 - will be broken up but they've done their job for Conte during these weeks.
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