Townsend started training with the group again on Tuesday, manager Mauricio Pochettino confirmed in a news conference, according to ESPN.
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The England global was banned from first-team training and left out of the squad to face Arsenal two weeks ago as punishment for a heated exchange with a Spurs fitness trainer during a post-match warm-down.
“I didn’t need to ask because when he saw me, he said “I want to play”, Pochettino, the Spurs head coach, said.
Pochettino told reporters: “For me, forget the past, if he deserves to be in the squad, it is not a problem”.
“We always speak about balance because the younger players need the senior players to feel confidence on the pitch”.
“For me, forget the past, if he deserves to be in the squad, it is not a problem”.
“We spoke between ourselves that if England play against France, we need to be at the stadium to give support and solidarity, ” Pochettino said. Afterwards, Bentaleb didn’t suffer a major injury and was able to play in Algeria’s second leg, a 7-0 win but had to come off in the 37th minute after starting and picking up a 28th minute yellow card.
Pochettino’s remarks suggest that the tackle might have been a little harder than what the Algerian FA indicated, but probably nothing that we need to worry about too much. “We agreed with him that to go to the national team was a good opportunity to start to compete again”. “We are lucky and he is lucky it was not a big issue”.
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“Nacer Chadli is recovering but is still out and Nabil Bentaleb got a bad tackle but is not 100 per cent”, he said. This is one step back for him. For Qarabag (next Thursday) or for Chelsea (next Sunday). “We are lucky and he is lucky it was not a big issue”. The starlet hasn’t started in a Premier League game, yet, this season but would be one of the options for the suspended Erik Lamela’s replacement on the right wing.
