Tottenham warmed up for the return of Premier League football on Boxing Day with a 3-1 win over Peterborough United Under-21s at their Hotspur Way training base on Wednesday afternoon. Arranging another behind-closed-doors match with their trip to Brentford now less than two weeks away, Spurs won courtesy of goals from Matt Doherty, Harvey White and Bryan Gil.
Fresh from their 4-0 triumph over Motherwell on Friday afternoon, Antonio Conte started with ten of the 11 players who started against the Scottish side for the visit of Posh. Youngster Charlie Sayers was the unlucky player to drop out of the XI, with Clement Lenglet returning after not featuring against the Steelemen last week.
Creating openings for Dejan Kulusevski, Bryan and Doherty early on in the contest, Spurs opened the scoring through White on 25 minutes. Davinson Sanchez met Kulusevski's inswing corner and the midfielder was on hand to convert from close range after the ball had travelled across the face of goal.
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Spurs wouldn't have to wait long for their second of the contest, Bryan this time the scorer with Kulusevski at the heart of the action once again. Having progressed down the right and enticed William Blackmore out of the Peterborough goal, the Swede squared for his fellow attacker to tap home his second goal in two games.
Tottenham pushed on for a third after the break, only for Blackmore to deny White before tipping over a free-kick from Bryan. Their third of the contest arrived nine minutes after the restart as Doherty, who had swapped flanks with Djed Spence at the interval, added his name to scoresheet once again after his double in the triumph over Motherwell.
Controlling the ball in the box and finding the net from 12 yards, Bryan and Spence had big parts to play in the goal after linking up well together down the left before the ex-Valencia loanee teed up Doherty for his third strike in two games. Yves Bissouma then had the chance to make it four after being brought down in the area following a driving run that saw him progress past three players.
Dusting himself off and stepping up from 12 yards, the Mali international couldn't convert the resulting penalty as Blackmore saved low to his left to frustrate the midfielder. The visitors did manage to pull a goal back with 20 minutes to go as David Ajiboye netted a consolation after finding the bottom corner with a drilled effort beyond substitute goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman.
As was the case on Friday against Motherwell, Conte made a host of changes in the second half as a number of the club's talented youngsters, including Brooklyn Lyons-Foster, Alfie Devine, Matthew Craig and Max Robson, were given minutes. The head coach also had the opportunity to bring on Pape Matar Sarr for the final 21 minutes following his return to Hotspur Way after representing Senegal at the World Cup.
Japhet Tanganga, Sanchez, Spence, Oliver Skipp, Doherty, Kulusevski, White and Bryan were all given 82 minutes ahead of next Wednesday's friendly at home to Nice. Lenglet played 69 minutes on his return to the team, while Fraser Forster, Ryan Sessegnon, Lucas Moura and Emerson Royal didn't feature for the second consecutive game.
Tottenham XI vs Peterborough Under-21s: Austin (Whiteman 62), Tanganga (Muir 82), Sanchez (Fagin-Walcott 82), Lenglet (Lyons-Foster 69); Spence (Paskotsi 82), Bissouma (Sarr 69), Skipp (Devine 82), Doherty; (Craig 82), Kulusevski (Robson 82), White (Santiago 82), Gil (Mathurin 82)
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