Spurs vs Celtic - Mauricio's preview

Mauricio Pochettino says it’s all about development on the pitch as we prepare for Saturday afternoon’s friendly against Celtic in Helsinki.

Unbeaten so far in pre-season following our Tour of the United States and Canada, the squad is in Finland to face the Scottish champions as we continue our preparations for the Premier League opener at West Ham in two weeks’ time.

With the match being played at a neutral ground, Head Coach Mauricio believes an intriguing game is in store – one which he hopes the local supporters will relish.

“It’s a tough game and we expect to develop our style and philosophy,” said Mauricio. “We expect a good game. Celtic are a very good team.

“It’s a different game because it’s away for both teams, but we expect a lot of supporters from Europe and we have here a Supporters Club so it’s important to play well in front of our fans.”

Mauricio confirmed that up to three players could make their first appearance of pre-season on Saturday afternoon – two of whom missed out on our summer Tour through illness while the other has recently returned from World Cup duty – with our other World Cup participants working hard on the training ground.

“We are looking to continue to develop and it’s important that players like Emmanuel Adebayor, Sandro and Nabil Bentaleb are here with us, while the remaining World Cup players have also returned to training,” Mauricio added.

“We continue to work hard for the start of the season.”