Every word Igor Tudor said on Kulusevski, Maddison and Kudus injury returns and Xavi surprise

Here's every single word the Tottenham Hotspur interim head coach said on Friday ahead of the big Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest

Igor Tudor had some positive injury news at his press conference on Friday afternoon ahead of Tottenham's crunch Premier League game with Nottingham Forest this weekend.

Sixteenth-placed Spurs sit just a point above Forest in 17th and West Ham in the drop zone and Sunday brings Vitor Pereira's side to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a relegation six-pointer. Tudor's men have had a good week though with a battling point at Liverpool and then a midweek Champions League win against Atletico Madrid.

At his press conference, Tudor provided updates on Dominic Solanke as well as some of the longer term absentees in Mohammed Kudus, Dejan Kulusevski. Rodrigo Bentancur and James Maddison.

Our Tottenham reporter Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Tudor. Here's every word the Croatian said at his press conference at Hotspur Way.

We saw Joao Palhinha back in training but couldn't see Dominic Solanke, what's the update on him?

Dom didn't train, but probably tomorrow he will train with the team and he will be available. It is a problem with his hip, so he will be ok.

No fresh issues apart from that?

No, no, no.

What is your reaction to the FA misconduct charge?

Yeah, they told me about this with the club. We focus on the game, that is the most important thing.

What do you make of the big upcoming show of support from the fans ahead of Forest?

Nice, nice. I said, after the game there was a beautiful sensation, feeling of togetherness with the fans. Very rare. I felt this enjoyment, I enjoyed feeling like sensation that we are doing good on the pitch, but together with them, together with the fans. That was really nice, rare. We need to continue all together this, if we can say, small positive moment after two games where we can recognise small but important things for the squad.

Did you get that feeling in the stadium?

Yeah, there is a positivity, but also understanding the game, it is not easy. So, important game, but probably it will not decide anything after the game, independent of the results. We just need to keep going on what we did in the last two games.

What have you learned about your players over the past seven days or so that perhaps you didn't know beforehand?

What did I learn about players that I didn't know before? What can I tell you about that question? Nothing new. I didn't learn anything new.

Nottingham Forest were in action away from home in Denmark and needed extra-time and penalties to win the tie, how much of an advantage do you think it is that they had to go away?

No, there would be no advantage because the coach made it in the way so the players who started didn't play more than 60 minutes. So there would not be an advantage from this point of view.

There's a great stat going into this game on Sunday that Spurs have scored the second-most goals from corners in the Premier League this season, and Forest have conceded the second-most goals from corners this season. So how big a part do you think that could be?

Set-pieces are always important. After you said about the statistics, we just need to go on set-pieces and win set-pieces if it's possible! But of course, it's not just set-pieces. It's a long game to play, a few games in the game. You need to be inside from the first to last second of the game, including five subs.

So a big respect to them because they have players who can hurt us, but as well, going on our sides, going on with our things, with confidence, with courage, with humbleness, with all the stuff necessary to take the points.

I wanted to ask you about Xavi, you created so many chances on Wednesday night and it felt like he was a really important part of that. How do you get him playing like that consistently for you?

Oh, I didn't get him. He himself was motivated, was good, was with the right mentality. When he's like that, his qualities come out. So his qualities connect a lot with these things I said now. It was a really beautiful surprise for me.

He was inside from the first second of the game. It was nice to find in him this resource we will need in these last games we still have to play.

With Archie Gray, Xavi had the most ball recoveries on the pitch, is it strange to have a playmaker who's also a fighter?

For sure. In football today, it's always about 11 players who need to defend, so the more players you have with these values, the better result you get.

When are you expecting to have Mohammed Kudus back?

So we have this big three weeks after the game on Sunday. I don’t know. Probably some part of the things with the squad maybe 10 days. I don’t know I’m not sure. We need to check but he is progressing very well. Already a little bit with the ball. Rodrigo [Bentancur] as well, Maddison as well. We hope the medical staff will make us some nice surprise in the next weeks which would be very important to have that.

Could Maddison play before the end of the season?

Yes. Maddison is already doing interesting things as well with the ball. Sprinting as well. I saw him. He is positive. He's positive.

And Dejan Kulusevski, any progress there?

No, not yet.

You have a big break after this Nottingham Forest game, no game on weekend of April 4th, have you planned what you want to do during that period?

No, a lot of players are with national team of course and we make already plans. It will be some rest and a lot of work.

Would you like a game on that weekend without a match?

We will see. For now it is not a problem.

How important is it that you have impact players on the bench to help you finish strong?

Yeah it will be nice to have five or six subs on Sunday. It can be so important.

Richarlison missed Wednesday but his goal at Liverpool felt significant to end the poor run, how motivated and fired up is he for this game?

For sure not just about him but we need this kind of performance after the long period of problems. What is the key now is to not think that this kind of mentality we put on the pitch will come and be done by themselves. The confirmation is always key in the sport and from the first minute the same way, the same mentality and all the tactics and technical things come after this.