Ange Postecoglou will be planning for Tottenham's return to Premier League action but he has to wait for most of his players to get back.
Tottenham could have climbed into third place in the table had they not fluffed their lines against Ipswich on Sunday and now Postecoglou must try to get them back on track with a tough trip to champions Manchester City after the break comes to an end. Spurs have a large contingent of players out on international duty during this fortnight, meaning a very quiet Hotspur Way training complex.
James Maddison, Timo Werner, Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon are the only fit senior outfield players still at the Enfield-based training ground as well as goalkeepers Fraser Forster, Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman. The injured players at Tottenham include Micky van de Ven, Richarlison and Wilson Odobert, while teenager Mikey Moore has been suffering with a virus and will be continuing to recuperate from that during this international break. Werner has also been carrying a groin injury.
Of the international stars, the first three players Postecoglou will get back are all likely to arrive on Monday with Dominic Solanke having been involved with England's Nations League match against Republic of Ireland at Wembley the previous night, while on the same evening Destiny Udogie and Guglielmo Vicario will be part of the squad for Italy's home game against France.
Another group of players will return on Tuesday to Hotspur Way, with Radu Dragusin involved the previous night for Romania's home Nations League match against Cyprus, with Pedro Porro in the Spain squad for their game against Switzerland and Archie Gray part of the England Under-21s set for their game in the Netherlands.
Wednesday should bring Lucas Bergvall and Dejan Kulusevski back to the club after Sweden's home Nations League tie against Azerbaijan on Tuesday night, as well as Ben Davies and Brennan Johnson, who have Wales's home game against Iceland. Earlier that afternoon, Will Lankshear is in the squad for England Under-20s game in Poland.
Among the Tuesday group of fixtures further afield, there is also Spurs captain Heung-Min Son with a World Cup qualifier for South Korea against Palestine in Jordan and Africa Cup of Nations matches for Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr at home for Mali and Senegal respectively. With journeys across the world for those three players, that could mean they return to the training ground on Thursday rather than Wednesday, depending on when their flights home are and how long they take.
The same goes for Cristian Romero and Rodrigo Bentancur, who are both away this fortnight on duty in South America with Argentina and Uruguay and for the latter he could well return and be unavailable anyway if he received the expected ban after his FA charge.
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