Tottenham manager Antonio Conte has suggested he will only select players who were not involved in the World Cup for his side’s Boxing Day game at Brentford.
The Premier League resumes on Monday, just eight days after the World Cup final in Qatar.
Conte has already said his players involved in the final – Frenchman Hugo Lloris and Argentinian Cristian Romero – will not face the Bees.
“I’m not really happy,” Conte said.
“On the one hand you are happy because for my club, Tottenham, to have 12 players at the World Cup means that we are on the right track to try to be competitive and try to win something.
“But it’s normal that when you have so many players playing a tournament like this, especially during the season, that now it’s not easy because the physical condition is not at the top.
“It’s impossible to give them much rest and that’s for sure with the players who haven’t played in the World Cup and we’ve been working for four weeks, now they’re in great physical condition.
“We worked a lot on the tactical aspect and the physical aspect. Now they are at a better level than the players who have finished the World Cup.
“For this reason, I think I have to make the best decision for the game against Brentford. On the one hand, I have players with whom I have worked very well for four weeks and on the other, I have players who worked at the World Cup and are not at the top at the moment.”
Rodrigo Bentancur will miss Monday’s midday kick-off through suspension but is also nursing a minor hamstring issue.
The same injury will sideline Richarlison for a month – he picked it up while playing for Brazil in Qatar – and Lucas Moura’s tendon problem persists.
Conte said of Moura: “He’s having a hard time finding a solution.
“It’s a difficult situation because I have a good player in my team, but he’s never available. It’s like you don’t have him.
“It’s a shame because we’re talking about a good player, a good guy, but he’s having a hard time dealing with this. I don’t know what will happen to him in the future.”
