Here's the Tottenham team that we reckon Roberto De Zerbi will select to face Chelsea in their pre-season friendly in Sydney on Saturday
Tottenham will sign off their pre-season tour of New Zealand and Australia with very familiar opposition in Chelsea on Saturday in Sydney.
It will be the first time that the Lilywhites and the Blues have played each other outside the UK when Roberto De Zerbi and Xabi Alonso's sides meet at the Accor Stadium Down Under on Saturday for a 10.45am kick-off back home but a 7.45pm start in Sydney. In their pre-season fixtures so far, Spurs have beaten MK Dons and Auckland 1-0 and 2-0 respectively before overcoming Sydney FC on penalties on Wednesday after a 1-1 draw.
Now they will end their time Down Under with a London derby in front of at least 80,000 fans in the Australian city before jetting back on Sunday to England to spend the remainder of their pre-season at either Hotspur Way or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
With just two recovery days since the game against Sydney FC, De Zerbi is likely to rotate his pack again and is still being cautious with many of his World Cup returnees as well as those players who had serious injuries last season.
Missing from training on Friday were Mateus Fernandes with his fatigued calf, James Maddison and Yang Min-hyeok, while Micky van de Ven spent much of the session on an exercise bike.
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"James has a small problem. Like I said, I don't want to take any risks, especially in this part of the season," said De Zerbi. "Especially for James, because he suffered a long injury last season. It's important for us, but for him and for Mateus Fernandes, the same. It's not the right moment to take risk. We'll work again when we're back in London."
What was noticeable during open training was that De Zerbi and his coaching staff worked with groups of 11 outfield players during rondos and then 10 each side a training match, with Lucas Williams-Barnett and Rio Keyemeraten the 11th on each team for the rondos but having to watch on from the sidelines in the training game.
Those in the open training in Auckland wearing red bibs with numbers on them ended up being the team to face the A-League champions the following day and it could be the same for those in those numbered bibs on Friday, while the team in yellow involved players who started against Sydney FC, have been in training or were more recently back from the World Cup.
Here is the red team of outfield players, their backs showing old school numbers from two up until 11, with a surprisingly young trio in midfield of academy products which could struggle if Chelsea put out an experienced line-up in the centre of the park: Takai, Hardy, Danso, Udogie; Tye Hall, Donley, Tyrese Hall; Scarlett, Richarlison, Moore.
The yellow team included: Gray, Van Hecke, Davies, Robertson; Bergvall, Tonali; Solomon, Gallagher, Tel; Solanke.
It could be Antonin Kinksy's turn to play for the full 90 minutes as Brandon Austin and Martin Dubravka got the full stints against Auckland and Sydney FC.
So we're predicting the young side in red to start the game against the Blues before the other XI come on at points during the game.