Conte: 'Impossible' to rest Tottenham's World Cup stars

The twelve Tottenham players who featured at the World Cup will not find rest easy to come by, to Antonio Conte's frustration.

Spurs return to action on Boxing Day against Brentford, just eight days after two of their players – France captain Hugo Lloris and Argentina defender Cristian Romero – played in the World Cup final.

Lloris will be on the bench against the Bees but Romero is unlikely to be in the squad. 

Spurs also have to contend with Richarlison's absence, with the Brazil forward having sustained a serious hamstring injury while playing in Qatar. Son Heung-min, Eric Dier and Harry Kane made it to the last 16 and quarter-finals of the competition with South Korea and England respectively, while Ivan Perisic went deep into the competition with Croatia.

"I am not really happy," Conte said. "On one hand, you are happy because for my club, Tottenham, to have 12 players at the World Cup it means that we are in the right way to try to be competitive and to try to win something.

"But it is normal that when you have so many players play a tournament like this, especially during the season, that now it is not easy because the physical condition is not at the top.

"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 in a great physical condition.

"We worked a lot on the tactical aspect and physical aspect. 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.

"On one side I have players who I worked with for four weeks really well and on the other side, I have players who worked at the World Cup and are not at the top at