Spurs beat Brighton & Hove Albion by 2-1.
But Mourinho revealed that one player didn’t want to be picked for the game.
​Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed that club record signing Tanguy Ndombele asked not to be selected for the Boxing Day fixture against Brighton. Mourinho might have chosen to start with Ndombele for the game, but the Portuguese manager later bizarrely claimed that the Frenchman did not wish to be picked at all.
“I cannot say that he is injured because in five minutes we start a training session that you could watch from the stands and he will be training normally,” Mourinho told reporters in his post-match press conference.
“So I cannot say he is injured. I can say that yesterday he told me he was not feeling in condition to play the game, not based on injury but on fears of previous injuries that he has had since the start of the season, two, three or four muscular injuries and the feeling of not being ready to start the game.
“But I cannot say that he is injured, I can only say he is not in condition which is a different thing.” It took a herculean effort in the second half to turn the game around, with goals from Harry Kane and Dele Alli proving to be the difference for Spurs.
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