Tottenham Injury Update Ahead of Premier League Opener

Tottenham have been handed a timely boost ahead of their Premier League opener at Brentford, with Mateus Fernandes, James Maddison and Destiny Udogie all back in training. The cloud hanging over the squad is Micky van de Ven, who remains a serious doubt for the trip across London.

New head coach Roberto De Zerbi has spent much of pre-season juggling fitness concerns around key players. Maddison and Fernandes have had their minutes carefully rationed, while Van de Ven and Udogie did not feature at all in the warm-up games.

Udogie is being wrapped in cotton wool after a run of muscular problems last season. Maddison is on a slightly different path, still building up from the anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered last summer. Both are edging closer. Both want in on Saturday.

The pair are now pushing hard to be involved at the Gtech Community Stadium, joined by summer signing Fernandes, who has been managing a calf issue in recent weeks but has returned to full sessions.

The real concern sits at centre-back. Van de Ven was not seen in training at Hotspur Way and his chances of making the opener look slim. The Netherlands international, fresh from signing a lucrative new contract, did not appear in any of De Zerbi’s pre-season squads after coming back from the World Cup and is now expected to miss out against Brentford.

Up front, there is another question mark. Dominic Solanke is also doubtful, having been used sparingly in pre-season after missing most of last campaign with ankle and hamstring problems.

Spurs head to Brentford on Saturday evening hunting a statement win to match an aggressive summer. The north London club have poured £237million into six new signings and are desperate to rip up the memory of last season’s 17th-place finish.