Several Tottenham Hotspur players claim that the team’s slump is down to exhaustion and mental fatigue and believe they should be given more days off.

Tottenham suffered a third successive defeat for the first time under Mauricio Pochettino when they lost 2-1 away at Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday but the players were made to sleep at the training ground afterwards.

They stayed at the new Lodge hotel at the club’s Enfield base for the first time after returning from Milan at midnight, before training yesterday in preparation for Saturday’s Premier League game against Brighton & Hove Albion. The players have no issue with spending the night at the Lodge, which was built in the summer and used for rest periods between