Tottenham Hotspur return to action in the Premier League on Boxing Day with their trip to Brentford and Antonio Conte has had to balance his starting line-up.
The Spurs boss has had a core of non-World Cup players to work with over the past six weeks and that has been supplemented in the past fortnight by players returning from the tournament in Qatar. Conte has also had to deal with various players having stomach problems and fevers which has led to some of his squad missing a number of days' worth of training.
The boss has already confirmed that Fraser Forster will start in goal as Hugo Lloris was in World Cup final action for France last Sunday and a decision has been made for him to be on the bench.
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Cristian Romero has been granted extra time off after his victory with Argentina and the subsequent celebrations back in his homeland.
Japhet Tanganga gets the nod on the right of the back three, with Eric Dier and Clement Lenglet completing the backline. Ben Davies has returned from an oblique muscle injury and is on the bench.
As Rodrigo Bentancur is suspended for the Boxing Day clash, Yves Bissouma, who has taken his opportunity in their last three friendlies, gets the start ahead of Oliver Skipp and take his place in midfield alongside Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Conte is short on attackers at present with Lucas Moura and Richarlison injured, but he has got his first-choice forward line of Dejan Kulusevski, Harry Kane, who captains the side, and Son Heung-min available for the first time since September.
With the wing-backs, Ivan Perisic returned early after winning the World Cup third-place play-off with Croatia and he is straight in the starting line-up on the left. Ryan Sessegnon has been recovering from a hamstring injury and while Conte said the England U21 international was ready, he added that he was not at 100% yet.
On the right, Matt Doherty, who scored four goals in the three friendlies, gets the start ahead of Emerson Royal and Djed Spence at right wing-back. The latter is not in the matchday squad.
Tottenham team vs Brentford: Forster; Tanganga, Dier, Lenglet; Doherty, Bissouma, Hojbjerg, Perisic; Kulusevski, Kane, Son. Subs: Lloris; Davies, Sanchez, Sessegnon, Emerson, Sarr, Skipp, White, Gil.
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