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Lewis Pangratiou

Djed Spence hint, Ivan Perisic call - Four things spotted in Tottenham training ahead of Man Utd

Tottenham Hotspur travel to Manchester United on Wednesday evening as they look to build on their best ever start to a Premier League season. The Lilywhites have taken 23 points from a possible 30 so far this campaign, losing only once to current leaders, Arsenal.

A win over United would take Antonio Conte's side above Manchester City and into second in the table, just one point behind their north London rivals. Whilst it's not a must-win game by any means, it's certainly one where Spurs will be confident about getting all three points.

Although United are the only team to beat the Gunners so far this season, the Red Devils have been wildly inconsistent under new manager Erik ten Hag. They sit eleven points off the pace and even though they carry a lot of threat going forward, Tottenham can get at their defence.

READ MORE: Tottenham can do Chelsea a favour with two key Man United players walking suspension tightrope

Conte's side have been working hard in training too, as seen by images released by the club. With that in mind, here's four things we noticed from Hotspur Way.

Spence determined

Djed Spence joined Spurs from Middlesbrough in the summer for a fee of £12.5million which could eventually rise to £20million with add-ons. However, he has so far only been handed a couple of minutes of action with two late substitute appearances in the Premier League against Nottingham Forest - the team he helped gain promotion on loan last season - back in August and Everton on Saturday evening.

As Spence warmed up down the touchline at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before coming on at the weekend he got a good ovation from the fans in that corner of the ground and then when he eventually was brought on to the pitch in added time he got a big cheer from the crowd on all sides.

Supporters clearly want to see more of him and by all accounts, it looks as though he's doing the right things in training to make his breakthrough. In fact, you can see him working hard alongside Ben Davies in a defensive drill as he looks to make the right-wing back spot his own.

Djed Spence during the Tottenham Hotspur training session at Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

No Richarlison or Kulusevski

Richarlison will miss the visit to Old Trafford with a calf injury sustained against Everton, while Conte has admitted that he 'doesn't know' whether Dejan Kulusevski will be available. Neither featured in the images released meaning they may both have missed training as a precaution.

That being said, Richarlison has revealed that his injury isn't as bad as first feared as he tweeted on Monday: "Guys, thank God it was just a big scare!! Two weeks and I'll be back! Thank you for the messages and affection."

Happy Son!

It was all smiles for Son Heung-min after he set a Ballon d'Or record on Monday night. His 11th placed finish is the highest recorded by an Asian player in the award's history.

Son and his teammate Harry Kane were amongst the 30 players nominated for the award after the prolific Spurs duo capitalised on another successful campaign. With 23 goals, Son became the first-ever Asian player to win the Premier League's Golden Boot award last season and he's since built on that impressive record.

He's always a happy character but that was evident once again in the training session.

Son Heung-min was all smiles in Spurs training (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images) (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

Moura, Gil and Perisic all involved

Conte wants to stick with his favoured 3-4-3 formation for the United clash, despite injuries to Richarlison and Kulusevski. As Conte is without two of his key forwards, there are question marks over who the Italian head coach will select alongside Kane and Son in Spurs' front three.

Lucas Moura, Ivan Perisic and Bryan Gil are the three frontrunners to get a starting berth against Ten Hag's side and they were all staking their claim at Hotspur way. It'll be interesting to see who eventually gets the nod.

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