The Tottenham players were training on the pitches at Hotspur Way on Monday ahead of their Champions League match against Slavia Prague
Tottenham were training in the rain on Monday afternoon at Hotspur Way ahead of their Champions League match against Slavia Prague.
Spurs got back on track with a 2-0 win against Brentford on Saturday to make it four Premier League victories in 2025 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Now they will be looking to make it back-to-back victories at their home with the game against Slavia Prague on Tuesday night.
Tottenham's European home record is far, far better than their Premier League one as they have gone 22 games without defeat across the different competitions, including 18 wins and four draws with 60 goals scored and 13 conceded.
Thomas Frank and his coaching staff were putting the Spurs players through their paces with some notable absentees and one surprise sighting.
Here are five things we spotted while watching the opening stages of the training session at Hotspur Way on Monday afternoon.
Who was missing?
Destiny Udogie missed the Brentford match with a soft tissue muscle injury and he was not out there training with the team on Monday. Brennan Johnson was also missing from the session. The Wales international looked to be moving uncomfortably before coming off at Newcastle and was an unused substitute against Brentford.
Dominic Solanke was not out among the group and neither was Dejan Kulusevski, who posted a video of himself taking a late night dip in a freezing lake on his Instagram account on Sunday evening. Yves Bissouma remains out with his ankle injury, amid reports claiming that he has been caught on camera inhaling nitrous oxide again.
There was positive news though as while Randal Kolo Muani limped out of the stadium on Saturday after pulling up in the second half, the Frenchman was out training with the team on Monday.
Surprise sighting
Ahead of his appearance on Sky's Monday Night Football, James Maddison could be seen on the grass in the distance with a member of the sports science staff.
He then headed over to the group, tapping a ball along at times as he walked, before making a beeline for Frank and giving the Spurs boss a hug, while saying the odd word to the players.
The midfielder hopes to be back before the end of the season from his ACL injury which he suffered at the beginning of August, but he also stated in a recent YouTube video that he would not risk rushing back too early.
Crazy Romero
The 15 minutes of training that were open to the media mostly consisted of warm-up drills before a few fiercely-contested rondos.
The players were all in high spirits in the aftermath of the weekend's victory and none more so than captain Cristian Romero who was energetically running around in his rondo.
So determined was the skipper to enjoy himself in front of the cameras that at one point he dived on the floor and headed the ball as it rolled across the grass rather than kicking it, ignoring the potential of a boot to the face.
Frustrated Van de Ven
Romero's centre-back partner Micky van de Ven was also a talkative, laughing presence throughout the early stages of the session.
The Dutchman was in the other rondo to his skipper and was the dominant voice in that one. At the end of one keenly-contested sequence of passing, when things took a turn against Van de Ven, the speedy defender showed some mock frustration by booting the ball into the stratosphere and into the distance.
With the coaches uses multi-balls though, he had no chance to rest as the next one was thrown straight back in.
Richarlison wrestled
Pape Matar Sarr was also enjoying himself with plenty of energy and laughs while Radu Dragusin, Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons were all showing various flicks and tricks.
Richarlison, after scoring his fourth goal in six games on Saturday, got a bit carried away at one point in the rondo and flicked the ball up into Kevin Danso's face. The Austrian is one of the strongest players in the squad and duly grabbed the Brazilian and wrestled him to the floor as if he was the weight of a feather. Richarlison likes a complaint but even he was taking this punishment from the big centre-back without moaning.