news-engine

Some Tottenham fans on social media think they spotted something significant in the background during the club’s friendly at Hotspur Way against Hoffenheim on Sunday. Spurs took on Hoffenheim in a second friendly in consecutive days on Sunday, this time in a fixture which was played behind closed doors at the training ground. While senior players like Ben Davies, Kevin Danso, Rodrigo Bentancur, James Maddison, Mateus Fernandes and Pape Sarr were involved, there were some conspicuous absentees. None of Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Dominic Solanke and Mohammed Kudus featured, which has left some supporters concerned, given that we are now less than a week away from the club’s opening game of the season. Some Tottenham fans think they have spotted Dominic Solanke training outdoors Unlike Van de Ven and Udogie, who have not played a single minute across pre-season so far, Solanke did feature for 45 minutes in the club’s 2-1 win over Chelsea in Sydney. The striker has missed the three friendlies the club have played since, but eagle-eyed Tottenham fans think they spotted him doing sprinting drills behind the goal during Sunday’s friendly. One Spurs fan wrote on X: “Come on then Spurs detectives… is that Solanke doing runs behind the goal?” Another wrote: “Can see Solanke on pitch behind Austin goal doing work on ball and lot of sprinting.” Richarlison likely to get the nod to start against Brentford Richarlison has continued finding the back of the net during pre-season, as he did with a composed left-footed finish to send Tottenham on their way to a 3-0 win over Hoffenheim on Saturday. One would expect the Brazilian to get the nod to start over Solanke at Brentford, but Spurs fans will be hoping that the England international is at least fit enough to make the bench. The bigger worry is the absence of Van de Ven, Udogie, and Kudus, none of whom have featured across the club’s pre-season campaign. The silver lining for the Lilywhites is that Marcos Senesi and Andy Robertson both looked excellent against Hoffenheim, and they could both be in line for their Tottenham debuts against the Bees. - READ MORE: Where Tottenham stand in all-time Premier League points table amid claims Aston Villa are bigger