The FIFA World Cup 2022 came to an end on November 18 and on November 22, the club football calendar resumed in England with the Carabao Cup matches. Unfortunately for some of the teams who had a few of their key players reaching the semi-finals or finals of the tournament, they will have to see out the Boxing Day and late year fixtures without some big names.

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Antonio Conte was clearly frustrated with this turn of events. They will be away to Brentford on Boxing Day in the first Premier League match of the second leg this year, to resume what has been an exhilarating campaign for so many teams. As for Conte, he remains short of some crucial options.

Argentine World Cup-winner Cristian Romero is yet to join the Spurs camp and remains in his home country and is not expected to return until the turn of the year. Richarlison, who won the Goal of the Tournament award for his acrobatic strike in Brazil’s opening match against Serbia, is almost certainly out of it.

However, England and South Korea’s captains, the two biggest stalwarts of Tottenham Hotspur currently, Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min are back and are likely to feature in the starting XI.

On Christmas, the Spurs boss spoke to the press virtually and addressed his disappointment. “It is a strange situation and honestly to play so quickly, only one week after the World Cup, I am not really happy,” Conte said on Sunday.

“It is impossible to give them a lot of rest and for sure with the players that didn’t play the World Cup and we work for four weeks… Now they are at a level that is better than the players who finished the World Cup. For this reason I think I have to make the best decision for the game against Brentford,” he added.

Spurs are just about in the top four having played one match more than Manchester United, who are in the fifth spot. They will be keenly looking to consolidate that spot as they already have a very superior goal difference when compared to Erik Ten Hag’s team.