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London – Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho hopes club-record signing Tanguy Ndombele will declare himself fit to play at Norwich today.

The Spurs boss has revealed that the French midfielder asked not to be included for Thursday’s Boxing Day win over Brighton as he was concerned he might not be fit. 

But he has trained since and now Mourinho is looking to help him fill a midfield gap caused by the absence of the suspended Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko, while Son Heung-min is also serving a ban and Dele Alli looked to be struggling in the latter stages against the Seagulls.

Mourinho, asked if he was upset by the decision of Ndombele, whose transfer from Lyon could yet cost Spurs some €70 million, to make himself unavailable against Brighton, answered: “I think Ndombele was honest. Football players like to play football.

“For him to say, ‘I don’t feel confident, I don’t feel in the best condition due to my previous injuries’, he was just being honest.

“And we had solutions. We had (Eric) Dier, we had (Harry) Winks, we have (Oliver) Skipp who is a great kid fighting to improve, for a place.

“I hope Friday morning after training he can come back to me and say ‘I’m ready to help the team’.”

Erik Lamela, however, had no qualms about throwing back himself into the fray, even though he has been side-lined since October with a hamstring injury.

After only two sessions under Mourinho, he told the Portuguese manager he was ready to play against Brighton if needed.

“Lamela, he was fantastic,” said Mourinho. “I think it was 56 or 57 days that he didn’t train with the team.

“He came to me and said, ‘I think you need me because you are in trouble with injuries, suspensions, no Sonny. If you want me I am there. If you need me for 10 or 15 minutes I’m there’.

“That’s the kind of thing that touches me. I like players that make sacrifices for the team.”

Spurs beat Brighton 2-1 to move to within three points of fourth-placed Chelsea following the Blues shock loss to Southampton.

They could draw level on points with their London rivals if they win at Carrow Road before Chelsea’s next game on Sunday.

There was a 12-point difference between the two teams when Mourinho took over at Tottengham but the former Chelsea and Manchester United manager believes it will still be difficult for Tottenham to finish in the top four.

“I started with minus 12 here. With minus 12 you have to recover 12 points. It’s a lot of points,” he said.

“A couple of days ago we were minus three and we had a chance to go to zero. Right.

“But the problem is during the recovery process we’re not going to win all the time and the other teams aren’t going to lose all the time.”

Meanwhile, Manchester United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has become the latest Premier League manager to complain about the “unfair” packed programme of fixtures over Christmas and New Year.

United play their final league match of 2019 against Burnley on Saturday, just over 48 hours since competing a 4-1 comeback win over Newcastle.

Those matches form part of a sequence of seven games in 21 days that is hard to square with modern notions of rest and recovery.

But such is the commercial appeal of the traditionally congested programme that change does not appear likely anytime soon, even though Jurgen Klopp, the manager of runaway leaders Liverpool said recently it was a “crime” for teams to have to play on both December 26 and 27.

“I don’t think it is fair on the boys at all,” said United manager Solskjaer.

“I don’t think it is fair to be expected to perform at the best of your level, both mentally and physically, 48 hours after you have played.

“But I think we are in the best position to perform on Saturday. One — the game was over after 45 minutes. Two — we are young,” the former United striker added.

“We have a great chance against Burnley to perform at the best level because our boys, when you are 23, which is the average age of the outfield starting players (against Newcastle), that will make it easier for us to recover than Burnley, for example. I think.

“They played until the end against Everton. We were done after 45 minutes and used the second half as recovery.

“But it is not fair, especially when a game at Watford has just gone and there will be a game New Years’ Day.

“Two games in three days is possible once in a while but not when it is as tight as this.”

The Norwegian, asked if English football might change its ways, replied: “You are a traditionalist country. You like your traditions. I can’t see it being changed, no. But it should be.”

As for how he coped during his playing days, Solskjaer jokingly said: “It was easy for me. I was on the bench all the time! I never played 90 minutes twice in three days.

“Maybe I did one year. I scored against Villa and Ipswich. You have to look after yourself.

“You have to eat the right things, drink the right things, sleep well.” 

Results

Thursday: Leicester City 0-4 Liverpool, Manchester United 4-1 Newcastle United, AFC Bournemouth 1-1 Arsenal, Aston Villa 1-0 Norwich City,  Chelsea 0-2 Southampton, Crystal Palace 2-1 West Ham United,  Everton 1-0 Burnley, Sheffield United 1-1 Watford, Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion.

Fixtures

Today: Brighton & Hove Albion v AFC Bournemouth (The American Express Community Stadium 14:30), Newcastle United v Everton (St. James’ Park 17:00), Southampton v Crystal Palace (St. Mary’s Stadium 17:00), Watford v Aston Villa (Vicarage Road 17:00), Norwich City v Tottenham Hotspur (Carrow Road 19:30), West Ham United v Leicester City (London Stadium 19:30), Burnley v Manchester United (Turf Moor 21:45).

Tomorrow: Arsenal v Chelsea (Emirates Stadium 16:00), Liverpool v Wolverhampton Wanderers (Anfield 18:30), Manchester City v Sheffield United (Etihad Stadium 20:00). — AFP.