Burnley will mark their return to the Premier League with a visit to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday afternoon.
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Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a major boost ahead of Saturday’s Premier League opener with Burnley after Thomas Frank confirmed midfielder Yves Bissouma would be back in contention.
The former Brighton and Hove Albion star has endured a challenging start to life working under Frank after he was the subject of disciplinary action earlier this week when he was dropped from the Spurs squad that faced Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup. Frank confirmed Bissouma would not feature against the Champions League winners as a punishment for turning up late for training on a number of occasions in recent weeks but the Mali international will return to contention for the meeting with Scott Parker’s side.
However, it wasn’t all positive news for Frank after he confirmed Italy international Destiny Udogie was ‘progressing’ from a knee injury he suffered during preparations for a pre-season friendly against Luton Town last month - but would not be ready to return in time to feature in his matchday squad this weekend.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday morning, the new Spurs head coach said said: "Every player is available for the team tomorrow. Destiny is progressing, but's too early for him to be involved in the squad. Bissouma was a situation. I addressed it, there was a consequence. He will be in the squad tomorrow. Of course we dealt with the situation. These situations you deal with internally of course. It's dealt with, I'm looking forward. It's a big game tomorrow and that's where the main focus should be.”d. We have a big game tomorrow."
Clarets defender ready for comeback
Burnley defender Hjalmar Ekdal believes the Clarets are ‘in a good position’ as they prepare to mark their return to the Premier League with a visit to Spurs this weekend.
The Sweden international missed the Clarets push for promotion back into the top flight after spending the second half of last season on loan at FC Groningen but is now back amongst Scott Parker’s squad after making 14 appearances for the Eredivisie club. Ekdal has featured throughout Burnley’s pre-season schedule and is hoping to make the most of his loan spell in the Netherlands and his involvement over the last month.
He told the club website: “It feels really good [to be back]. I came back from a loan spell last spring and the plan with that was to get game time and to get my form up again which I felt I did really. With it in mind that I’m coming back for pre-season so I can be prepared and compete. I’ve played a lot now, so I’m feeling good.
“This pre-season has been really good for me and for the whole team. I think we've been training really hard preparing for the Premier League. We know that it's quite a different challenge from the Championship. It's the toughest league in the world. So, I think if we can be really well trained and really fit for the season, we are in a good position.”