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Spurs' players had a furious dressing-room bust-up after their defeat at Chelsea last weekend.

Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood publicly criticised the desire and character of his squad after the 4-0 thrashing at Stamford Bridge - and claimed they were all too nice to each other.

And he maintained his hardline stance in his Wednesday press conference.

Now, the north Londoners' Brazilian midfielder Sandro has revealed strong words were also spoken behind closed doors - first by Sherwood and then in a heated exchange involving the whole squad.

“We spent more than two hours in a meeting amongst the players and we said what we had to say,” Sandro said. “Everyone was shouting.

“Every player had their fair share to say, let’s put it this way. We all spoke amongst ourselves.

“The manager said the same thing to us as what he said to the press. We had our meeting post-match - sometimes one player got a bit more stressed out and we tried to calm him down and talk in a nice way. We spent about two hours that way.”

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And, before four days that see home games against Portuguese heavyweights Benfica - on Thursday in the first leg of a Europa League last-16 tie - and arch-rivals Arsenal, Sandro insisted the row will help save Spurs’ slumping season.

“We have to put our hearts on the table and pull our sleeves up for the benefit of our team and ourselves,” he said.

“But from now on if someone is not doing their work properly, then I think now we - especially the older players - can say something.

"In the past, we probably didn’t say anything because we didn’t want anyone to take it the wrong way. From now on we will pull our sleeves up and tell whoever is not doing their job.

"It is not only the new players. It is everyone. No-one said things before. But now everyone knows. I think everyone can go for it now. This is going to help us.

"We need to show a bit more in next match, to tell the manager that we care. We will do that.”

Michael Dawson is out with a hamstring injury for both the Benfica and Arsenal matches but Mousa Dembele and Christian Eriksen return to the squad.

Tottenham vs Benfica: Probable teams

Tottenham (4-4-2) Lloris; Naughton, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Rose; Townsend, Sandro, Dembele, Eriksen; Soldado, Adebayor.

Benfica (4-4-2) Artur; Andre Almeida, Luisao, Jardel, Silvio; Salvio, Fejsa, Ruben Amorim, Sulejmani; Djuricic, Cardozo.