Tottenham waiting on availability of South American players for Newcastle clash

Tottenham boss Nuno Espirito Santo has not ruled out the possibility of his four South American players being involved at Newcastle on Sunday.

Argentinian pair Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso Colombia’s Davinson Sanchez and Brazil international Emerson Royal are travelling to London having been in South America for World Cup qualifiers over the last fortnight.

Romero, Lo Celso and Emerson all played in the early hours of Friday morning and Nuno said the quartet will be assessed on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s trip to St James’s Park.

Nuno said: “They are travelling now. They will join us tomorrow and then we’ll see. Then we’ll see.

“The reports that we have is that they finished their games well. Some of them played 90 minutes, Davinson Sanchez no, but what we are expecting is for them to join us and then we’ll see.”

The September international break derailed Tottenham’s winning start to the season as players returned injured while Romero, Lo Celso and Sanchez had to go to Croatia to avoid a 10-day hard quarantine.

Nuno has hinted that some players have come back with injuries again.

“After the international break there are always huge issues that happen. We have problems but I will not say before the game.

“During an international break, always these situations happen. Some players play a lot of games, some play don’t even get one minute. And that is what causes disruption.

“Because after that, when you receive them, some of them come very happy because they achieve fantastic things like Hugo (Lloris, winning the Nations League) did, some of them come really said like Regi and Bryan, some like you said with a lot of minutes on their legs, some just go there, sleep and eat.

“It causes a lot of problems. But what’s happening now, what we want is for them to return as soon as possible, like tomorrow, some of them already joined us. But it’s always disruption.

Spurs travel to Newcastle to face a very different club to the one before the international break following the Saudi-led takeover which positions them as one of the richest clubs in the country.

The mood on Tyneside is expected to be buoyant, while Magpies boss Steve Bruce will take charge of his 1,000th match amid intense speculation surrounding his future.

“All the atmospheres in the Premier League, whoever you play against, it’s always the fans behind the team,” Nuno added.

“Of course, after what has happened with Newcastle we expect an atmosphere that’s going to support them. At the same time we have to ignore it and focus on our tasks. It’s up to us to quieten the fans.”

Asked about his thoughts on the takeover and how it might affect Spurs’ standing in the long term, Nuno said: “I have enough things to think about, honestly.”

Steven Bergwijn could return after a spell out with an ankle injury.

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