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Emmanuel Adebayor's preparations for Spurs’ showdown with Newcastle this weekend have been hit by his late flight back from the Africa Cup of Nations.

The striker’s Togo side got knocked out by Burkina Faso on Sunday night, at the quarter-final stage.

Adebayor and his team-mates, however, were stuck at their South Africa hotel until Wednesday.

It is understood many of the players decided against taking a plane laid on for them by the Togo Federation on Monday and instead wanted to travel with Adebayor.

With a huge game at home to the resurgent Magpies kicking off at 12.45pm on Saturday and Jermain Defoe, Spurs' only other senior striker, injured, Adebayor is needed by the north Londoners.

The Togo team remained at their hotel until Wednesday afternoon however, with police called to sort out a dispute between some of the squad members which took place there the night before.

The squad had been staying at the Winkler Hotel in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The hotel has 160 rooms and provided accommodation for the Ethiopia squad earlier in the tournament.

(Image: Getty)

Charmaine Kotze, general manager of the Winkler Hotel, said: “The Togo team were due to leave on Tuesday night, 48 hours after their final match, which finished at 10.15 on Sunday night.

“But they did have some flight problems so they left the hotel on Wednesday instead.”

A police spokesman confirmed the Togo team were given an escort as they left their hotel.

The spokesman said: “The team left on Wednesday afternoon. There were some problems with the jet that was supposed to take them home but the players were given an escort and the left the hotel on Wednesday afternoon.

“Police called to the hotel on Tuesday evening called for back up after a disagreement between some of the players created a difficult situation.”

Spurs maintain Adebayor is not due back until Friday morning - barely 24 hours before the Newcastle game begins.

Boss Andre Villas-Boas is set to confirm on Thursday whether the striker is set to start Saturday’s match or whether he will push ahead with a bold plan to start winger Gareth Bale up front.