Mauricio Pochettino has stressed that Giovani Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon are "far away from the level they need to be involved" following their return to training.
The former has only made three substitute appearances since joining on loan from Real Betis after a hip injury sustained on international duty in September left him in the treatment room, while the latter has yet to make his Spurs debut due to a hamstring problem picked up in the summer.
The duo's return is certainly very good news for the Lilywhites at a time when the manager could do with freshening up his team after a poor run of results.
Although they are now back with their teammates on the training pitch which the manager has stated is a "massive step" after their injury troubles, he has said it will be "difficult" for them to catch up to the level of their teammates.
"To be honest, today they are far away from the level they need to be involved," he told football.london at his pre-match press conference ahead of the Watford game.
"There are a lot of players ahead of them, but it’s good news that from now, tomorrow they are going to be involved with the team. That is a massive step.
"It’s been a lot of time they were out. Now it's about building their fitness, their capacity to understand, to start to compete with their teammates.
"The good thing in the last few days we saw in the training sessions is the players were fantastic in their behaviour and commitment and the level of the training sessions and the focus were fantastic.
"I’m so happy because of that and it will be difficult for players who were injured to catch up to the level and be in the same level."
Following Saturday's home game against the Hornets, Spurs then host Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League before travelling to Liverpool five days later.
