Tottenham Hotspur are taking on Motherwell today in a mid-season friendly, but five first-team players are missing from the squad and a report from Football.London can explain why that is.

While the World Cup continues in Qatar, the Tottenham players who didn’t make it to the tournament have been training hard ahead of the domestic season resuming on Boxing Day, when Spurs take on Brentford in the Premier League.

Dejan Kulusevski

(Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)

With this in mind, the club has arranged two mid-season friendlies to ensure the players are sharp and match-fit for when the season starts again. Spurs will host French side Nice on December 21, but first up is Scottish team, Motherwell.

The behind-closed-doors friendly is taking place at the Hotspur Way training ground today. The line-up for the game sees Brandon Austin in goal, Djed Spence, Japhet Tanganga, and Bryan Gil getting a start, and game time for youngsters like Charlie Sayers, and Harvey White.

There’s no place on the bench for Fraser Forster, Ryan Sessegnon, Emerson Royal, Clement Lenglet, or Lucas Moura, which has left some fans wondering where they are.

Football.London has the answers, it seems, as they reveal that Sessegnon is training alone due to an injury, while the other four players are suffering from slight knocks that are keeping them out of action as a precaution.

According to the report, Ryan Sessegnon “is back working on the grass but not with the group following his injury against Liverpool last month,” and is therefore not match-ready yet.

As for the other four players missing today, it is believed they have “suffered various minor knocks in training in recent days so their absence from the match is precautionary.”

Spurs Web Opinion

It’s good to know that the absences of Forster, Royal, Lenglet, and Moura are nothing to worry about long-term, while Sessegnon is working his way back to fitness as expected. In particular, we have to hope Clement Lenglet is fit and ready for the Brentford game, as it sounds like Ben Davies won’t be back in time after his injury at the World Cup.

Have something to tell us about this article?

Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.