Thomas Frank offers a major update on nine Tottenham players in a huge injury boost ahead of the Arsenal showdown.<\/p>\n
Frank brought plenty of positive news during his first North London Derby press conference of the Premier League season on Friday, as Spurs prepare for Sunday\u2019s trip to the Emirates Stadium. Tottenham had initially been expected to head into the derby with 12 players sidelined, but the manager confirmed encouraging developments for several key names, including Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, Pape Matar Sarr, and Randal Kolo Muani \u2014 who may feature with a specially designed mask after fracturing his jaw in the draw with Manchester United earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Eight points currently separate Spurs from Arsenal, with the Gunners sitting four clear at the top of the table. Tottenham are fifth, part of a tight pack of clubs all level on 18 points after a competitive start to the campaign.<\/p>\n
Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold attended the press conference, where Frank gave a full breakdown of the squad\u2019s condition and his thoughts ahead of the derby.<\/p>\n
How\u2019s the squad looking after the international break, especially Sarr, Lucas, Kolo Muani and Dom?
\n\u201cThey are good, most of them. Pape trained today \u2014 he\u2019s ready and available. Lucas trained today \u2014 ready, available. Kolo Muani trained today \u2014 available, and he will play with a mask. Dom is not ready yet. We want to be absolutely sure there\u2019s no setback when he returns. He\u2019ll be ready soon, but I won\u2019t put a timeframe on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the significance of the rivalry and his excitement for the derby:
\n\u201cThis is the real one. Super excited. Before I arrived, I knew about the North London derby, but being inside the club, you feel how important it is. From the fans, the staff, the players \u2014 this is the big one. Every game matters, but there are two a season that mean even more, and this is the first. We\u2019re ready, we\u2019re up for it, and we\u2019ll do everything we can to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
On process, development, and comparisons to Arteta\u2019s journey at Arsenal:
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a good example of a club sticking to their process. There are many people involved, not just me, but staying committed to what we believe in over time is crucial. Six years is rare in football, but for Arteta, it really took three seasons before they started competing at the top in his fourth. That\u2019s the way to look at it. The margins between success and falling short are small, but the process is what matters most.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thomas Frank offers a major update on nine Tottenham players in a huge injury boost ahead of the Arsenal showdown. Frank brought plenty of positive news during his first North London Derby press conference of the Premier League season on Friday, as Spurs prepare for Sunday\u2019s trip to the Emirates Stadium. Tottenham had initially been …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":55005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_GettyImages-2244329692.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55004"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55008,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55004\/revisions\/55008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}