Tottenham Hotspur winger Dejan Kulusevski said he was pleased to be returning to Premier League action on Monday following an intense training period during the World Cup.
The Swedish star trained at Hotspur Way whilst many of his team-mates travelled to Qatar as his nation failed to qualify for the tournament, doing runs and gym work which he said was harder than pre-season.
Kulusevski spoke after Spurs drew 1-1 against OGC Nice in a friendly ahead of the season's resumption, where Matt Doherty's opener was cancelled out by Antoine Mendy's equaliser early on in the second half.
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On the World Cup break
The 22-year-old said the players that stayed in North London during the World Cup were pushed to their limits, in the style many have come to expect from Antonio Conte and his sides.
Kulusevski confirmed that the Italian is in good spirits, and had been demanding his players to push themselves regardless of the conditions.
The former Juventus man said he had been on late night runs with the squad often, saying he had not had much if any time to rest ahead of the Premier League's restart.
"It's been like another pre-season, like what we did before, we just forgot everything and started from the beginning with a lot of hard work, with running and gym work.
"It was a little bit harder than pre-season. I'm telling you I didn't do much else, it's been a lot of running in the dark, but in a way that's fun with your team-mates and brothers."
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On Harry Kane
It was a tough end to the World Cup for Kane, who blasted his second spot kick on the night over the bar against France, which proved decisive as England were knocked out at the quarter final stage once again.
Spurs will hope their talisman will be able to put the miss behind him and carry on his form from the start of the campaign, when Kane had been influential for his club.
The 29-year-old has netted 13 times for The Lilywhites this campaign and has been a vital component of the front three, which Kulusevski will be wanting to be a part of whilst Richarlison is absent with an injury.
The England captain was in attendance on the night of the Nice game, and Kulusevski said he expected to be playing with the striker on Boxing Day when Tottenham face Brentford.
"It was very very good to see him back. He had a nice break and it was nice to see him, I was surprised to see him because I thought he was back on Friday.
"I honestly think that every player would like to play, when you see your team playing you want to be on the pitch and helping your team, so I think he wants to play [against Brentford] absolutely."
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On the rest of the season for Spurs
Despite having an inconsistent start to this term, which saw Conte's side go from having their best ever Premier League start to somewhat crying out for the break by the time the World Cup rolled around, Spurs return to league action sitting in 4th place.
They also have a mouth watering tie in the round of 16 in the Champions League against AC Milan ahead of them, meaning they have every chance of having a good season still.
Kulusevski was confident that The Lilywhites could improve on their performances from the first half of the campaign, and said he was pleased by the high pressing display from Spurs against Nice.
Tottenham's number 21 also confirmed that he was feeling good after a spell out with injury before the World Cup break.
"I expect better results than in the first six months of the season, I think we can do better and we've been working hard so now is just time to show what we've been doing.
"I think we have a lot of quality players that I think can do more, we have very good players, almost every player did very well at the World Cup, we just have to stay healthy and then play like we can.
"I can't wait, we are in a good position in the Premier League and we are in the Champions League against AC Milan, so it's going to be a fantastic six months and I'm looking forward to it."
