Thomas Frank welcomes return of Tottenham captain Cristian Romero

Romero's availability means they could play five at the back at home to Chelsea.

Thomas Frank has Tottenham captain Cristian Romero back for the visit of Chelsea (John Walton/PA)

Thomas Frank has no doubts over the fitness of returning Tottenham captain Cristian Romero and admits his availability means they could play five at the back at home to Chelsea.

Romero has not featured for Spurs since the start of October due to an adductor issue, but has been declared fit for Saturday’s London derby.

It brings a sense of deja vu as Romero returned for this fixture last December only to break down and miss three months of action.

Cuti ✅
Destiny ✅
Wilson ✅

The latest team news from Thomas Frank's pre-match press conference!

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Frank said: “The positive news is that Romero, Destiny (Udogie) and Wilson (Odobert) are available for selection for Saturday.

“I am very aware of trying to be able to take the best possible decisions. Of course in the end I will get a lot of information from medical staff, performance staff, but in the end it is always on me.

“If a player breaks down, it is on me. It is not on the medical staff, not on the performance staff, always me.

“I take decisions, I get all the information and then I have to take a difficult choice or a braver choice, or an easy choice, so that is it.

“If Romero was fit enough, he would have been involved on Wednesday (against Newcastle), but he is ready to be involved and let’s see how he is.”

Kevin Danso has impressed alongside stand-in captain Micky van de Ven since Romero pulled out of the warm-up before the 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on October 19.

Romero’s return opens up the possibility that Spurs could switch to a back five, which worked successfully versus Paris St Germain in the Super Cup and is a formation that has caused Chelsea recent problems.

Asked about the system, Frank said: “Yeah, I would say that to have him back opens the door.

“We also have Destiny back, so that is also positive. It was a little more of a challenge against Newcastle where we had a few less options, but I thought we performed well in many areas.”

Chelsea have won the last four meetings with Tottenham, including two memorable fixtures in N17 under Frank’s predecessor Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou urged his team to play a high line despite being down to nine-men for a large chunk of a November, 2023 clash which ended in a pulsating 4-1 loss and last season’s clash in north London produced a seven-goal thriller in Chelsea’s favour.

“You never know,” Frank laughed when quizzed if this derby could be as crazy.

That was crazy, but yeah that is in the past.

“It was entertaining and we are in the entertainment business aren’t we? I remember the first, was that with nine-men and 4-1? Yeah I remember that one. That was crazy, but yeah that is in the past.

“Some games we are a part of that everyone will remember for whatever reason and hopefully we are part of a game everyone will remember tomorrow and we come out on the winning side.

“It’s a London derby between two big rivals, there is so much on it and against a very good Chelsea team. It will be a very competitive and even game. Under the floodlights, it has got everything to be a top game.

“We need to come flying out and get the fans with us. And I am very, very positive about us coming out and performing very well tomorrow.”