Nuno on the fitness of three senior players

In his pre-match press conference, Nuno Espirito Santo gave another positive update on three of his senior stars, including a checkpoint for the return of Raul Jimenez.

The Mexican, out of action with a serious head injury since November, has 18th May pencilled in his diary for a further update, after coming through another week of training with the group at Compton Park. That same group, preparing for a tough test against Brighton & Hove Albion, included both Joao Moutinho and Willy Boly, however Sunday’s game is expected to come too soon for the latter.

On Boly’s health

“He’s much better, he had problems with fatigue and has been infected, but he’s getting better. He’s been able to join part of the sessions and he’s getting better. We didn’t know what was really happening but came to the diagnosis and felt more relaxed. We are aware that he needs a couple days more to get back to total fitness. No [for Brighton], hopefully yes [for Tottenham].”

On better Moutinho news

“He’s better. He’s training totally with the group, we have one session more to go on Saturday, but he’s much better, he’s improved from his injury, so is going to be available.

“We have issues, but we will see on the day of the game. We have one more training session to assess and we’ll play the game with the players we have.”

On Jimenez test coming up

“Raul has an exam and is going to see the specialist on the 18th of this month, so from thereon we’ll know exactly what we need to do, because we need the clearance from the specialist and it’s going to happen on the 18th.

“Until then, he’s working, he’s totally fit, we still have precautions on him heading the ball and contact, but the 18th will be an important day for us to move forward and make the right decisions.”

On improving again after West Brom

“A lot of aspects inside the game. I think we controlled really well the possession of the ball, but we’ve not been able, when we break the defensive part, to really finish the action, so it’s an aspect we should improve.

“We’ve been able to have set pieces offensively where we had the first contract, but we didn’t produce any clear situations of danger – something we have to improve. There’s a lot of aspects around the game that we have to improve and the next one is the best chance to do it.”

On the crazy 3-3 at Brighton

“It was a tough game. I think we did a very good first-half and started very bad the second-half, and the game went out of control, so we let the game go, but played good for most parts of the game. But it’s totally different on Sunday, Brighton are a good team, a good squad, they play good, and we expect a very tough match, but totally different from the first encounter.

“I’ve seen good things from all the teams and problems in all the teams. I analyse based on who we’re going to face, the characteristics of your opponent, and Brighton are a tough opponent, like all the games in the Premier League.

“They play good, they are good players, and we have to be focused and consistent and defend well, and when we have the ball, we have to play, knowing that we are in Molineux and have to do much better.”

On finishing the season well

“It’s always good to perform good. This is what we want, these are our expectations, realising that it’s hard, game by game, you cannot look at the four games, we’ll go game by game and the next one is Brighton. I think we improved against West Brom regarding what we did against Burnley, so we expect improvements and different things against Brighton.”

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