Trio involved
Preparing for the return of Premier League football with two friendly matches at Hotspur Way over the past week, Antonio Conte has still to see Fraser Forster, Ryan Sessegnon, Emerson Royal and Lucas Moura back on the pitch for Tottenham. Sessegnon had returned to outside training leading up to the Motherwell game but was training on his own away from the team, with the other three sustaining minor knocks and unable to play a part in both matches.
Although there appeared to be no sign of Lucas in the training video or photos released by the club, Forster was working with fellow shot-stoppers Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman and Emerson took part in an energetic training session. Sessegnon looked to be working away from the group once again, however, as he builds his way back to fitness after picking up an injury in the Carabao Cup game at Nottingham Forest.
Conte handed injury boost
In a further boost to Conte ahead of the Brentford showdown, Ben Davies took part in the latest training session at their Hotspur Way base. Only returning from World Cup duty with Wales in recent days, football.london reported last week that the long-serving defender is a potential doubt for the Boxing Day clash after suffering a painful injury to his oblique muscle during Wales' final group game against England.
READ MORE: Antonio Conte and Tottenham dealt major Richarlison injury blow ahead of Premier League return
The 29-year-old could be seen putting himself about in the team's rondo exercise, which only bodes well for the player and Conte for the upcoming games. If indeed Davies is in a position to play some minutes after his recent injury, he could possibly feature against Nice on Wednesday evening.
The masked man
The friendly against Nice will also hand Son Heung-min the chance to pull on a Tottenham shirt for the first time since sustaining a fracture around his left eye against Marseille. Amid question marks over his fitness so close to the World Cup, the attacker did manage to return in time to represent South Korea but he had to wear a protective face mask in training and his country's four games.
Now back at Hotspur Way after returning during the week, Son, complete with his face mask, was back with his teammates on the training pitch as they prepare for the Nice and Brentford fixtures. Tottenham fans will get to see him wearing the mask in games for Spurs as he did admit to the Korean media that he will need to use it for a little while yet as domestic football returns.
Intense rondo session
The Tottenham players stepped it up somewhat when it came to their rondo training exercise on Friday. Usually forming a big circle and having three players in the middle trying to win the ball back, this time the circle was a lot smaller and two more players were added to the middle.
It resulted in a rather intense rondo, with those in the centre giving their teammates no time on the ball by sliding in for challenges and also no space to operate. It was, as ever, a very competitive exercise with both teams going all out for the win.
Emerson and Spence gatecrash winning photo
It was the non-bibs who came out on top this time in the rondo, with the team featuring the likes of Dejan Kulusevski, Clement Lenglet and Matt Doherty. Handing a win to the non-bibs appeared to be quite a contentious decision, with Emerson shouting to one of the coaching staff that they didn't complete the final pass and Ben Davies playfully tripping Doherty over who in turn fell theatrically to the floor.
Those wearing bibs had their controversial loss rubbed in their face even more as their opponents celebrated right in front of them, which only resulted in a number of footballs flying towards the winners when they posed for a celebratory photo. Quite clearly keen to be on the wining team, Emerson soon took off his bib and joined the other ten players in their photo before Djed Spence also looked to gatecrash the snap.
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