This preseason, Tottenham Hotspur are still working on getting back to fitness, the players who saw their 2023-24 regular season end early due to injury. This includes the likes of Ben Davies, Destiny Udogie and Richarlison.
The case of Richarlison is a very interesting one, as he was nowhere to be found in the squad that won at Hearts 5-1 last night.
Preseason Friendly FYIs
Tottenham Hotspur at Queens Park Rangers
Kickoff (local time): Sat July 20, 3pm, Loftus Road, London, UK
Tottenham Preview Content: Team News Starting XI Prediction
Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America: LINK
Tottenham Team News
Is Richarlison not match fit? On leave?
Don’t expect him, or Davies or Udogie for that matter, to return against Queen Park Rangers on Saturday.
Also likely, ok, nearly certain, to miss out on the all-London friendly are the following players who are now on holiday, after having just completed international duty: Radu Dragusin, Micky van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur, Cristian Romero, Giovani Lo Celso, Guglielmo Vicario and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
That said, manager Ange Postecoglu still fielded a decently strong Spurs side in midweek in Edinburgh, and is likely to do so again here.
We’ll be back to preview and predict that in the next post.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor 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 currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.