Spurs vs Leicester U18s - John's preview

Our Under-18s host Leicester City on Saturday having enjoyed a rare full and uninterrupted week of coaching and training time.

The hectic fixture schedule of late has seen some of the lads involved in games as often as three times a week.

But with a full seven days since their last run-out against Fulham, Academy Manager John McDermott believes the lads have benefited from a focussed few days of time spent on player development.

“Thankfully we go into the game following a very good week of training,” John said. “In recent times we’ve had three games a week, which has caused a little bit of disruption.

“We’ve played Leicester a number of times over the years and we always have very tough games with them. I think the forecast yet again is for wind, which isn’t ideal.

“We’ve got tough opponents and tough conditions to contend with, but those are challenges that the boys will have to overcome.”

Following Saturday’s match with the Foxes, five of our Academy lads will join up with the England international youth set-up. Will Miller, Nathan Oduwa, Emmanuel Sonupe and Harry Winks will be involved with the Under-18s, while Josh Onomah has been called up at Under-17 level.

And John believes that this solid spell of work on the training field, coupled with the recent match practice the quintet have enjoyed, stands them in good stead to impress on the international stage.

“It’s an indication of the standards that some of the boys are reaching and some of their team mates can count themselves unfortunate not to be on the trip as well,” he added.

“This week has been good preparation for them before they go off to join England.”