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Rob Guest

Kulusevski and Romero absent, academy ace involved - 4 things spotted in Tottenham training

Absent players

All eyes were on who trained and who did not in Tottenham training on Monday morning ahead of the vital Champions League encounter against Marseille. Needing a point to progress to the knockout phase of the competition, Antonio Conte really needs to have his best squad available in order to try and get the job done in the south of France.

Training on the pitch at Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon but away from the team, Dejan Kulusevski once again did not take his place alongside his fellow players once they emerged from the changing room and came out for training. In the gym prior to the session as he did some work on his own with one of the coaching staff, it is up in the air whether or not he will be fit enough to be included in the Spurs squad to take on Marseille.

It wasn't just the Swede who missed out as Cristian Romero and Richarlison also took no part in training following their recent injuries. Tottenham fans will be hoping for some positive injury news in the pre-match press conference later this evening.

READ MORE: Hojbjerg and Conte's intense celebration, Kulusevski injury boost and Tottenham squad truth

Youngster included

Missing three key players in training, one of the club's talented academy stars got the nod to train with the first-team squad. It was indeed Matthew Craig, who has trained with the first team numerous times in the past.

The 19-year-old has not made a matchday squad this campaign because of the number of players available to Conte but there could potentially be space for him with Spurs able to name 12 substitutes in Europe. The youngster was included in Nuno Espirito Santo's matchday squad twice in the Europa Conference League last season and he was also selected five times in the league by Conte.

Lenglet embarrassed

As is usually the case in Tottenham training, the players took part in a giant rondo after going through a light warm up. A drill the players seem to enjoy as they look to make as many passes as possible without the three players in the middle winning possession, the squad do tend to have a good laugh during the exercise.

Clement Lenglet was the unfortunate player to be embarrassed this time as he went to close Harvey White down before the midfielder played the ball perfectly through his legs. A moment to forget for the defender, it was something that did go down well with the others.

Bryan tumbles

The rondos do get rather competitive at Hotspur Way with the players in the middle trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. That was evident early on in the drill as Hugo Lloris did his best to win the ball by going to ground in hope of gaining possession.

Unfortunately he caught Bryan Gil with his momentum and that resulted in the Spaniard losing his balance, stumbling and then falling to the ground. There was no malice in it whatsoever and the attacker just laughed about it and got straight back up.

At one point there was even a stoppage of about a minute as a debate took place over whether those on the outside had managed to keep control of the ball without it going outside the circle. Usually doing the rondo for a good ten minutes or so, this time it was only a brief one as the players split into two groups and did some running drills before swapping over.

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