Mauricio Pochettino has opted to leave a handful of players in London as we travel to Azerbaijan to take on Qarabag in our penultimate Europa League Group J match this week.

Mousa Dembele, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker have all remained at the Training Centre, while Nabil Bentaleb, Nacer Chadli and Alex Pritchard are still sidelined with ankle injuries.

Erik Lamela also misses out with a groin problem.

“Nabil is still out, he got a bad tackle during international duty with Algeria and he is out now,” confirmed Head Coach Mauricio this morning (Wednesday, November 25). “Alex Pritchard, Nacer Chadli and Erik Lamela are also out and we have rested a few players for this game as well.

“It has been a very busy period and we need all the squad ready to compete in good condition. We need to assess all of the players after every game and make sure we make the best decisions to compete with all of the players in the best condition.”



Some of our youngsters have made the trip, with defender Cameron Carter-Vickers, 17, and forward Shayon Harrison, 18, part of the senior travelling squad for the first time.

Matchday squad regulars Josh Onomah, Harry Winks and goalkeeper Luke McGee are also in the group, with nine of the 21-man party having come up through our Academy.

That’s a statistic that pleases Mauricio a lot.

“It is great for the club to be able to give the possibility for young players to play with us and travel with the first team,” he added. “I think it is fantastic and this is the future of the club. We feel proud about that and it is a very important thing for the club.”

The players board as we head to Azerbaijan for our @EuropaLeague game v Qarabag. Press conf & training later. #COYSpic.twitter.com/RleNyqhu6g — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 25, 2015



We take on Qarabag on Thursday evening, kick-off 6pm UK time.