International breaks can be tough on a lot of teams but Mauricio Pochettino has expressed his delight at the way the non-international players have been training during this period.

Speaking to club’s official website, our gaffer hailed the fantastic attitude displayed by most of the players who stayed back and he seemed quite excited about the return of Premier League action as well.

“Always it’s difficult for the players that are not involved in the international break but they work fantastically and they’ve trained so hard,” said Mauricio.

“We’ve used young players to help us in the training sessions and I think it was very positive for many reasons.

“They’ve worked so hard to try to keep their level and have had a great attitude and some very good performances.”

About the prospect of returning internationals, the manager added:

“We are assessing the players now. We need to see how they’ve come back and we need to try to put all in the same place. (Today) we can integrate everyone and start to work all together.”

Although 15 players of ours were away on international duty, the likes of Erik Lamela, Moussa Sissoko, Fernando Llorente, Juan Foyth and Lucas Moura, plus goalkeepers Michel Vorm and Paulo Gazzaniga, spent time training hard. They were also joined by a few players from Spurs’ Under-23 and Under-18 squads.

Harry Kane and Harry Winks have been injured for a while now but even they were spotted on the premises as they try to get back to match fitness.

Tottenham face defending champions Chelsea in a high-octane clash tomorrow and all eyes will be on the two London sides battling each other. However, Pochettino spoke about the upcoming trip as well and mentioned that there is a sense of optimism.

“It’s always exciting because after two weeks we start to play again,” he said. “Always it’s nice because we love to compete and, of course, it’s a massive game against Chelsea, such an important game.

“I’m happy that all the internationals are back and at a good level and now it’s about putting all at a similar level and to start to work to try to win the game.”

A win tomorrow would be massive for us and it would virtually seal us a place in the top-4. Let’s hope the boys go out there and beat the Blues.