Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte is looking to get his men sharp and fresh for the last two thirds of the Premier League season, and of course for the two UEFA Champions League round of 16 clashes against AC Milan. To do so, his club arranged a couple of friendlies during this winter World Cup break, with the first coming up tomorrow against Scottish side Motherwell.
The Italian will be hoping that nobody else on his side joins the injured list, as his squad has a couple of fitness concerns for this behind closed doors clash. As with any friendly, the number one goal here is to make sure no one else gets injured.
Tottenham vs Motherwell (Club Friendly) FYIs
Kickoff: Fri Dec 7, 1pm, Spurs training complex, Hotspur Way
Watch: Behind closed doors, but still available for streaming on the Spurs app.
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Spurs Team News
Spurs will be without two injured players who picked up knocks while on World Cup duty in Rodrigo Bentancur and Ben Davies. Both could be in doubt for the Boxing Day fixture against Brentford, when competitive matches return. With Davies, the issue is an oblique injury that he suffered while playing for Wales in Qatar. He could be sidelined for up to four weeks.
Regarding Bentancur, he suffered an abductor tear while playing for Uruguay in their group stage clash against Ghana, having to be subbed off in the 33rd minute. He is suspended for the London derby on Boxing Day anyway, but given that he faces a month on the sidelines, he’s a doubt for the New Year fixture.
Finally, you have Lucas Moura, who couldn’t make the cut for Brazil’s #1 ranked World Cup squad. He reportedly missed training, amid a lot of transfer speculation, so he is probably a doubt for this one.
With that all said, below you will find the strongest team that Spurs could reasonably put out there right now- according to Football.London. Given what they know, we’ll just go with their guess.
Tottenham Starting XI Prediction vs Motherwell
Forster; Sanchez, Lenglet, Tanganga; Emerson, Skipp, Bissouma, White, Sessegnon; Kulusevski, Bryan
Prediction: Spurs 4, Motherwell 2
Who honestly knows, when it comes to the prediction side of things because it’s a friendly, and both sides will do a lot of subbing a halftime.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.