Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho rules out more 'risky' friendlies ahead of Premier League restarts

Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I

Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has said it is "too risky" for the club to play more friendlies ahead of the Premier League restart.

Spurs hosted Norwich City in a two-hour training game on Friday but a friendly against Reading, scheduled for the following day, was cancelled.

The decision was reportedly at Mourinho's behest after the Championship club recorded two positive cases of coronavirus.

Manchester United were forced to cancel a friendly with Stoke at the eleventh hour last week when it emerged Potters boss Michael O'Neill had tested positive.

Mourinho has also warned about the risk of injury to his players in friendlies, particularly with Harry Kane, Heung-min Son, Steven Bergwijn and Moussa Sissoko returning to action against the Canaries following length layoffs.

Spurs resume the campaign with a crucial visit from Mourinho's former club Manchester United on Friday and the 57-year-old says he would have ideally liked to have prepared with more friendly games.

Speaking to Tottenham's official website, the Portuguese said: "We are not going to have any more friendlies. We think it would be good, but it’s too risky. We’ll have a normal preparation week starting on Monday, until Friday and then after that, two more days and we get West Ham, so the next 10 days are going to be busy.

"We have to adapt to this new reality, which is what we tried to do on Friday, to have a feeling of playing with an empty stadium. That’s the way it is.

In Pictures | Tottenham train at Spurs Lodge ahead of season restart

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"We have to think that the points are there to fight for and with fans, without fans, the points are there, the points are on the pitch and ourselves and United have to fight for them."

Meanwhile, Spurs have announced a deal with company Mondelēz for Cadbury to become its Official Snack Partner as the club looks for fresh revenue streams in the wake of projected losses of more than £200million due the pandemic.

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