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Here are five things we noticed in Tottenham's training sessions ahead of the Premier League derby at West Ham United on Saturday afternoon
Tottenham have had a week to prepare for their Premier League clash with West Ham United on Saturday afternoon.
It's a big match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as both clubs and their head coaches desperately need the three points from this derby in N17. The Hammers are the only London side faring worse than 14th-placed Spurs this season, currently sitting in the drop zone with 14 points to their name and only three wins.
They have only claimed a single victory on the road in their 10 matches so far, which came at Nottingham Forest way back in August. However, Tottenham have won just twice in their past 13 matches, and with their woeful home record in the Premier League they need to put on a big performance in front of their fans.
Spurs have had a rare midweek without a match so have been able to work hard on the pitches of Hotspur Way. Here are five things we noticed from some of the footage put out by the club in the past couple of days.
Romero's scary Solanke moment
It's great to see Dominic Solanke continuing to be back in training after so long out, but that doesn't mean captain Cristian Romero will go easy on him.
The England striker showed a lovely bit of technique during one small-sided match to control a Djed Spence pass with his thigh, knocking it up into the air and as Romero tried to jump into the back of him and head the ball, the striker calmly held the Argentine off, span away from him and fired the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.
That earned applause from staff and his team-mates. Romero, who will be back from suspension to face West Ham, wasn't having it though and as Solanke ran off after scoring, the skipper grabbed his wrist and yanked him out of his way so he stumbled across him.
With the striker's ankle woes this season, Thomas Frank might just have winced had he seen the moment as he can't be suffering any more freak injuries during this campaign.
Bergvall's back
One player back off the long injury list is Lucas Bergvall. The 19-year-old midfielder missed the FA Cup defeat to Aston Villa at the weekend after appearing to suffering a recurrence of the muscle injury in the Bournemouth match that he had tweaked in the win at Crystal Palace.
Thankfully the young Swede is back amongst it all and could be seen training fully with his team-mates in footage from the sessions at Hotspur Way.
"Lucas could be available, hopefully available for Saturday," said Frank during his press conference on Thursday afternoon.
Returning Bissouma
Something of a forgotten man, Yves Bissouma is back at Tottenham following his exploits with Mali at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The 29-year-old has not played a single minute for Spurs this season but has made five appearances for his country. He did play his part in their downfall though in the quarter-final against Pape Matar Sarr's Senegal.
Bissouma was sent off before half-time for a lunging challenge that brought him his second yellow card of the game and left his team-mates battling with a numerical disadvantage for the remainder of the contest.
The midfielder is now back at Hotspur Way and could be seen in the gym as well as training footage, but with four - or possibly three - fit central midfielders now it would seem unlikely that anything other than a winter move or waiting out his contract will come next for him.
Youngsters involved
Luca Williams-Barnett continues to be involved with Tottenham first team training and the 17-year-old will be hoping to be handed his Premier League debut in the weeks ahead.
The talented teenager has already made his club debut in the Carabao Cup and must keep working hard in training to impress because Frank is struggling for fit attacking players right now and that might just open the door for Williams-Barnett to get some minutes on the pitch.
That might even come potentially from a weakened bench on Saturday which may only contain fellow academy product Dane Scarlett and Solanke as attacking options.
Another 17-year-old in Tynan Thompson, who is having a strong season on the pitch, could also be seen sprinting down the left wing during one training match, with Romero blocking his low cross.
Gallagher involved but no Palhinha
Conor Gallagher was involved in training after his £34.7million move from Atletico Madrid and was showing his trademark energy, knocking Bergvall to the floor with one bit pressing.
The new signing looked to be heavily involved in everything Spurs were doing and Frank could well throw him straight into his first starting line-up.
Aside from the known injured players, one face who could not be spotted in the training footage was that of Joao Palhinha, with some social media speculation that the former Fulham man has picked up a little knock that has left him a doubt for Saturday's match.
Frank did not name him in his injury news on Thursday and hopefully if the Portuguese has picked up anything in training then it will be minor enough to ensure he still plays his part in what will be a fierce London derby.
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