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 match at Brentford.
The Premier League resumes on Monday, just eight days after the World Cup final in Qatar.
Conte has already said that his players who were in the final – France’s Hugo Lloris and Argentina’s 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 we are in the right way to try to be competitive and try to win something.
“But it’s normal when you have a lot of players playing a tournament like this, especially during the season, it’s not easy anymore because the physical condition is not at the top.
“It’s impossible to give them too much rest and certainly with the players who haven’t played the World Cup and we work for four weeks, they’re in very good physical condition now.
“We worked a lot on the tactical and physical side. Now they are at a level that is better than the players who finished the World Cup.
“That’s why I think I have to make the best decision for the game against Brentford. On the one hand I have players that I have worked with for four weeks and on the other hand, I have players that have won the World Cup. Worked in the cup and are not at the top at the moment.”
Rodrigo Bentancur will miss Monday’s lunchtime kick-off through suspension but is also looking at a minor hamstring problem.
The same injury will sideline Richarlison for a month – he picked it up while playing for Brazil in Qatar – and Lucas Moura continues to struggle with his hamstring.
Conte said of Moura: “He is struggling a lot to find solutions.
“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 sad because we’re talking about a good player, a good man, but he’s struggling a lot to solve this problem. I don’t know what the future holds for him. Will.”
