Rodrigo Bentancur is set to return to pre-season action against Arsenal in Hong Kong on Thursday (12,30pm UK).
The midfielder was laid low by illness and ruled out of taking part in our friendlies against Wycombe and Luton Town on Saturday. However, he travelled with the squad on Sunday and is now in line to return in the NLD at Kai Tak Stadium.
Speaking to SPURSPLAY ahead of open training at Kai Tak Stadium on Tuesday evening, local time, Thomas also had positive news on Dominic Solanke and James Maddison. “Dom is looking much better, progressing, we’ll see if it’s too early for Arsenal, but we’re positive about him,” he told us. “Madders is looking better and better, could also be too early for Arsenal, again, we’ll see. Rodri is back from illness, so that’s good.”
Asked about Kota Takai and Destiny Udogie in his pre-match press conference, Thomas added: “Kota got a plantar fascia injury, unfortunately we don’t know the scale of it – weeks. Destiny got a knee injury (in the warm up at Luton on Saturday) that we’re assessing at the moment, that has kept him out of this pre-season tour.”
Speaking generally about physical preparation for the season, Thomas added: “We are very aware of how we want to play, how we want to train, and you need to be completely aligned with the style of play with the physical output in terms of how we want to train, so we make sure the platers are robust enough. There are gym sessions, recover, which is just as important, then the ability to be able to compete in all the tournaments.”