Team news | New arrivals in contention, trio remain unavailable

Martin Ho reports that our five new signings could be in contention to feature in the matchday squad to face Leicester City on Sunday (12noon UK) – but revealed that Cathinka Tandberg, Olga Ahtinen and Charlotte Grant remain out.

Signe Gaupset, Hanna Wijk, Matilda Nilden and Julie Blakstad have all made the move to north London on permanent deals in the opening days of the winter transfer window, while Maika Hamano has joined us on loan for the remainder of the season.

The new arrivals have now trained with their team-mates at Hotspur Way and, speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday, Martin said: “All of them are [available]. Every player that has come in is in contention to play.

“When new players come into the building, you want them to adapt and, as coaches, you probably want an adaption phase, but it’s more how quick the player and how much the player is ready to perform.

“If you feel they are ready then it’s a good opportunity to put them in as a coach. Whatever we decide to go with at the weekend and how the players come out of training over the next few days, we’ll then pick a team that will go out and win the game.”

However, our Head Coach also confirmed Cathinka, Olga and Charlotte, who were unavailable before the festive break, remain out for this weekend’s clash against the Foxes but said they’re making good progress in their recovery.

“They’re [Tinka and Olga] probably looking to return at the end of January to be in the squad,” he told the media.

“They’ve made good progress, ahead of schedule but, with certain injuries, you have to take a bit more caution and we had that opportunity over the Christmas break. They’re both on the pitch, been in parts of training but we’re just building them back up to where they need to be. The end of this month is they targeted return date and, fingers cross, there’s no setbacks.

"Charli, meanwhile, has been progressing really well in her rehab as well. She's making really good strides and progress. We'll hopefully see Charli come the end of the month, early February."

Martin also provided a positive update on the long-term absentees – Jess Naz, Ella Morris, Luana Buhler and Maite Oroz.

“Ella is back on the grass and doing parts of training. Luana is still doing rehab, Maite is making good progress and Jess just had her operation and in a good place.”