Tottenham fans will be hoping that Matt Doherty can replicate his form in front of goal once Premier League action resumes on Boxing Day. On pause since early November with the World Cup taking place in Qatar, Antonio Conte's men will head across the capital in 11 days' time to take on Brentford.
Ahead of their trip to Brentford Community Stadium, the Lilywhites have been warming up with behind-closed-doors friendly games against Motherwell and Peterborough United Under-21s. Victorious in both with 4-0 and 3-1 wins, respectively, right wing-back Doherty managed to get his name on the scoresheet three times.
Hitting a double against their Scottish opponents with a low strike in the first half and a brilliant header shortly after the break, the Republic of Ireland international followed up his brace with a drilled effort from 12 yards against Posh. Doing exactly what Conte wants from his wing-backs by getting up the pitch and managing to get amongst the goals, Doherty has put himself in a decent position to start in the match against Brentford.
READ MORE: Tottenham vs Peterborough U21 highlights: Matt Doherty, Harvey White and Bryan Gil all score
Prior to then, however, the experienced player will have another chance to catch Conte's eye when they host Ligue 1 side Nice at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next Wednesday. As things stand, the Italian is going to have to keep close tabs on the wing-back situation ahead of the match against the Bees as Ryan Sessegnon and Emerson Royal have not featured in any of the friendlies so far.
football.london reported last Friday that Sessegnon was back in outdoor training on the grass but away from the group after suffering what appeared to be a hamstring injury in the Carabao Cup game at Nottingham Forest. Emerson's absence was down to a minor knock sustained in training ahead of the Motherwell match, but the fact he missed out again against Peterborough United Under-21s has only raised further questions about his current issue.
There's then Ivan Perisic to consider as he will only just be returning from the World Cup after Croatia made the final four of the competition. Sessegnon and Emerson's injury status will become clear when Tottenham face Nice on Wednesday night, but Doherty and Djed Spence have certainly taken their opportunity after a good amount of minutes and delivered on the pitch.
A key period for both with limited minutes coming their way in the first part of the campaign, their early return to training at Hotspur Way while others were still playing in Qatar was an opportunity they had to grasp with both hands. Speaking after the win over Motherwell, Doherty opened up on the past couple of weeks at their Enfield base and the need to use the time to improve.
"It hasn't happened before but we were only off for two weeks, so it's not like we lost a lot of fitness or sharpness," he admitted in an interview with SPURSPLAY. "We're obviously training hard again as if it's a mini pre-season to try and improve and get even better at that. We're taking it as if it we did in pre-season.
"Whatever they tell us to do we're going to work hard and try and get better as we know we've got a game in two weeks against Brentford that we need to be ready for for the second half of the season. We took the two weeks off, we took the rest and come back and taken training very seriously."
While some may comment on Tottenham's opposition in the past two friendly games, Doherty has done what was asked of him in an attacking sense and contributed with three goals. Coming to Conte's attention in the process, the mid-season break over the past month may well work in Doherty's favour going into the second part of the season as he looks to win back his place in the team.
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