Jose Mourinho expressed surprise over Gareth Bale ruling himself out of Tottenham's FA Cup fifth-round defeat to Everton.

Spurs took their hosts to extra time in a wonderfully chaotic game, eventually falling 5-4 to Bernard's 97th-minute winner.

Davinson Sanchez gave the visitors a third minute lead a Goodison Park and completed an unlikely brace to make it 3-3 before the hour - Erik Lamela having reduced the arrears after Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson were all on target during a crazy seven-and-a-half-minute spell.

Harry Kane came off the bench to net Tottenham's second equaliser, Richarlison having brilliantly doubled his tally, although Bale was not among the options on the bench to bolster Mourinho's attempts to save the game.

"I think it’s better for me to say," he said at a post-match news conference when asked to explain the Wales star's absence.

"So, we played against West Bromwich on the Sunday and he didn't play. On Monday, I was a bit surprised by him wanting to have a scan because he was not comfortable with some muscular area.

"So, he didn’t train on Monday and then on Tuesday he trained with the team but I was informed that his desire was to work with the sports scientists for a couple of days to strengthen that area. That's the reason why he’s not here.

"I don’t think it’s an obvious, clear injury. I would say he feels uncomfortable. Because of that he could not be 100 per cent, but I don’t think an injury."

Asked to elaborate further on whether Bale had disappointed him, Mourinho replied: "This is Everton post-match and Gareth was not here. The only thing I can say is I am being completely open and honest."

The incident marks another unhelpful chapter in Bale's as-yet deeply underwhelming return to Spurs on loan from Real Madrid, with the chances of a permanent switch back to north London looking increasingly remote.

A scorer in two of his four Champions League final successes at Madrid, fitness problems dogged Bale over recent seasons as he fell out of favour with Zinedine Zidane.

The 31-year-old has four goals in 16 appearances for Spurs this term, although only two of his six Premier League outings have been starts.

Matters at the other end of the pitch look to be a more immediate concern for Mourinho ahead of Saturday's trip to face in-form Premier League leaders Manchester City.

"I enjoyed the way we played when we had the ball from the first minute," he told BT Sport after the breathless affair on Merseyside. "We had a great dynamic, great movement and great character to fight against incredible mistakes

"But attacking football only wins matches when you don't make more mistakes than what you create.

"We scored four goals and four goals was not enough.

"It was the mouse and the cat. The mouse was our defensive mistakes and the cat was trying to compensate for that and playing very well."

Spurs must now lick their wounds after a punishing encounter, having seen City rotate their XI and saunter to a 3-1 win in their own last-16 tie at Swansea City earlier on Wednesday.

"Of course, City are great team, they rested a big percentage of their team," Mourinho added. "We have this situation but you can't cry."

Jose Mourinho has explained the reasons behind leaving Eric Dier out of his Tottenham side for the 2-0 Premier League win against West Brom.

Dier had started 19 of Spurs' 21 league games before the Portuguese coach named the England international centre-back on the bench for the match against the Baggies.

The defensive partnership of Toby Alderweireld and Davinson Sanchez helped Spurs to their first clean sheet in seven matches as the North Londoners snapped a run of three straight defeats.

And Mourinho revealed Dier had suffered a loss of confidence after being one of a number of players to make individual mistakes during Tottenham's recent run of sketchy form.

Dier's positioning was questionable as Roberto Firmino scored Liverpool’s opener in the 3-1 win at Tottenham last month and, after being dropped for the next game against Brighton and Hove Albion, Dier came back to concede a penalty in the 1-0 loss to Chelsea.

"Players have moments," Mourinho said. "They can be very good, they can be strong personalities, they can be experienced, they can cope with a mistake but in the end, they are men. And they feel more than anyone else these little moments of confidence, of crisis.

"I have to admit that recently our team makes little important mistakes that are punished in terms of our results.

“And Eric was there, he was one of them. They feel it. And I believe confidence, that drops a little bit.

"But great personality, a team guy, as happy as we were when we won on Sunday. A guy that loves it here, a guy that is loved by the team-mates, a guy that I trust. And he will be back to normality and his normality is to play and be solid."

Mourinho must now decide whether to recall Dier for Wednesday's FA Cup fifth-round tie against Everton, ahead of a league game against Manchester City on Saturday.

The Spurs coach confirmed Sergio Reguilon and Giovani Lo Celso will miss the trip to at Goodison Park, while Serge Aurier is a doubt.

Jose Mourinho is adamant Dele Alli still has a role to play at Tottenham and he could return from injury in Wednesday's FA Cup clash with Everton.

Alli has not played for Spurs in any competition since the 5-0 cup win over non-league Marine on January 10, with the attacking midfielder suffering from a muscular injury.

Before that, the 24-year-old had fallen badly out of favour at Spurs, with his four Premier League appearances this term amounting to just 74 minutes.

He was strongly linked with a January exit, as Paris Saint-Germain – now coached by Mauricio Pochettino – were said to be interested, but a move never materialised.

Therefore he has been tasked with recapturing the form from his early days at the club – Alli's 63 top-flight goal involvements was bettered by only six players across his first three seasons in the Premier League.

He was proving a real weapon for Spurs in his role behind Harry Kane, and his 26 assists over the same period was the fifth highest in the division – Alli found such consistency despite being significantly younger than those he was competing with.

His Spurs career now appears to be at a crossroads, but Mourinho insists there is a way back for him.

"Dele trained yesterday with the team and well," Mourinho told reporters on Tuesday. "Long time away, couple of weeks no training with team and recovering.

"Can he play tomorrow? Well, he's not injured but I'm not sure he can. Can he help us? I believe he can. In terms of having Dele on the bench to come for a few minutes to try to help the team, is that possible? I have to speak with him but I believe he can."

When asked if anything had changed for him to sound optimistic for Alli, Mourinho said: "Nothing changed. He's not injured. He's not injured, he can train with the team.

"He went through a process of not training and trained with the sports science people and then jumped to team work, which he did yesterday for the first time.

"Nothing changed, what maybe changed is the speculation around him because in this moment everybody knows that he's a Tottenham player and he doesn't go to any place. So probably the end of the speculation will be the end of the questions.

"He can train and he can try to help the team because this is what we want. It's what we need. We need players to help the team. Hopefully he can do that.

"In a normal situation he wouldn't even be considered for tomorrow, but with the injuries we have with so many matches we have, maybe we have to accelerate his process and maybe we can.

"But of course, I want him to be fully on board and to agree and that depends on his feelings. But if he can be on the bench tomorrow and to come for 10 or 15 minutes to help the team, that would be good for us."

Kane returned from an injury of his own in the weekend win over West Brom, getting himself on the scoresheet, and Mourinho confirmed the England captain got through the 90 minutes with no major issues.

"No bad reactions, he played well as you could see. No problems, at least no big problems," Mourinho added. "Again, we need to go player by player, on two days between West Brom and Everton, we go player by player to have their feelings and discuss with them to see the best options.

"Of course, we want to go with a strong team [against Everton] but at the same time we don't want to create problems with the future of the players."

Chelsea are not giving up in their pursuit of Bayern Munich star David Alaba.

Alaba, 28, is linked with numerous European giants, with Real Madrid reportedly leading the race to sign the defender.

But it seems Chelsea are unwilling to give up.

TOP STORY – CHELSEA STILL EYEING MADRID TARGET ALABA

Chelsea will attempt to hijack Real Madrid's move for Bayern Munich defender Alaba, according to The Guardian.

It was reported Alaba, who is out of contract at the end of the season, had agreed to a four-year deal with Madrid.

Chelsea have been linked with numerous centre-backs.

Goal reports the Premier League club's signing plans are linked to Bayern Munich's transfer plans as the Bundesliga giants are favourites to sign RB Leipzig defender Dayot Upamecano.

Upamecano and Niklas Sule, another Bayern defender, are also said to be targets for Chelsea.

ROUND-UP

- Can Manchester City land Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland? The Daily Star reports City bosses believe winning the Premier League will help them beat Chelsea to Haaland in a £100million (€114m) deal.

- Tottenham have won just two of their past 10 Premier League matches, leading to talk about Jose Mourinho's future. The Telegraph reports the Spurs head coach is under pressure but not in imminent danger of being sacked.

- Manchester United are targeting a deal for Norwich City right-back Max Aarons as they seek competition for Aaron Wan-Bissaka, according to the Daily Express.

- Following Andre Villas-Boas' exit, Marseille are looking for a new coach. Le 10 Sport reports Atletico Mineiro boss Jorge Sampaoli is the favourite to take charge of the Ligue 1 club.

Jose Mourinho has little interest in external scrutiny after three consecutive Tottenham defeats, insisting he places enough pressure on himself.

Spurs host struggling West Brom on Sunday but head into the weekend eighth in the Premier League, 14 points off top, after losing to Liverpool, Brighton and Hove Albion and Chelsea consecutively.

That miserable run has made Mourinho the first Tottenham boss since Andre Villas-Boas in November 2012 to suffer three defeats in a row in the league.

Indeed, the reverses against Liverpool and Chelsea represented the first time in 327 home league matches in Mourinho's managerial career he has lost back-to-back games.

Speaking ahead of the West Brom game, where Spurs will aim to bounce back at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Mourinho offered a spiky response when asked about increasing pressure, referring to the club's wait for a league title that stretches back to 1961 and a total trophy drought of more than 12 years.

"I put pressure on myself every day," he said. "I don't need others to put pressure on me, I put pressure on myself every day.

"Since 2012 without three defeats in a row, correct? How long since a title? Maybe I can give one."

Mourinho added his focus remains on the short term and again getting the better of Sam Allardyce, the West Brom boss against whom he has never lost in 12 Premier League meetings.

Even with West Brom 10 points shy of safety after losing to bottom side Sheffield United, Mourinho is aware of the threat they pose.

The Baggies have held Manchester City and Liverpool away from home this term and beat Mourinho's Manchester United at Old Trafford during their previous relegation campaign in 2017-18.

"The most important thing now is West Brom," Mourinho said. "I don't even want to think about [subsequent fixtures against] Everton or City.

"After City, we go to Austria in the Europa League, which is a big competition for us that we have good expectations in.

"But I don't even want to think about that, I want to think about West Brom. That's a big game. Sometimes big games are just against the top six or the London derbies or whatever it is, other times big games are games like this.

"It's a big game for West Brom because they need a victory, they need points to survive, to get out of where they are.

"It's a big game for us because we need to leave the position where we are, which is not a dramatic position like theirs but is a very bad position for us, so we need to leave it.

"We need to break the dynamic of three defeats like you saw, so it's a very important match for us.

"But the reality is until the end of the month we have great motivations in front of us. The Europa League is something that since the beginning we put a lot on.

"I cannot forget that we had to play many games to qualify for the group stage, games with two days in between, travelling around Europe to play.

"The team wants and the team is waiting for that, maybe the squad needs that, but let's focus on West Brom because it is the next match and, after three defeats, we have to win against West Brom; we cannot even think a different thing."

Jose Mourinho fears Harry Kane could be out for "a few weeks" after the Tottenham captain injured both ankles in a 3-1 Premier League defeat to Liverpool on Thursday.

England striker Kane did not return for the second half at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after requiring treatment twice in the opening 45 minutes.

Kane has been struck with ankle problems in the past and although Mourinho was unsure over the extent of the damage his talisman sustained, the Spurs boss is braced for having to cope without him in the short term at least.

Asked about Kane's injuries, the Portuguese told Match of the Day: "Two ankles, the first was a bad tackle, it was Thiago [Alcantara]. The second one I didn't know well.

"But two injuries in both ankles, the second one worst than the first one – a few weeks [out], I don't know.

"There are some players you can't replace. When it happens it happens but I believe we have to fight against it, we cannot do anything else."

Spurs face Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday before taking on Chelsea in a London derby, then face clashes with Everton and Manchester City before coming up against Wolfsberger over two legs in the Europa League next month.

Their eight-match unbeaten run in all competitions was brought to a juddering halt by champions Liverpool, who rediscovered their goalscoring touch with strikes from Roberto Firmino, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sadio Mane.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg had made it 2-1 with a stunning first goal for Spurs after Alexander-Arnold capitalised on a mistake from Hugo Lloris early in the second half.

Son Heung-min had an early goal disallowed for offside after Mane missed a glorious early chance to open the scoring and Mourinho felt Tottenham only had themselves to blame for a defeat that leaves them eight points behind leaders City in sixth place.

"My analysis is that we started very well, but before we scored the offside goal we showed immediately what the game was going to be for us – a big occasion for Mane, a big defensive mistake," he said.

"That was the game for us, the team in the first half was very well organised, the goal is another mistake in the same position.

"The second half we had to make changes, we lose Harry, had to change the structure of the team. First minute, same mistake, second goal. Good reaction, another mistake and goal.

"It was a team fighting against its own mistakes. Some individual mistakes that you saw, you can replay and I cannot say much more than that."

Jose Mourinho feels Chelsea's decision to sack Frank Lampard highlights the "brutality" of football.

The Blues ended Lampard's reign after just 18 months on Monday, with former Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel poised to replace him.

Mourinho has had two spells as Chelsea manager, both of which ended mid-season, and is well aware of the pressures at Stamford Bridge.

The Tottenham boss regrets any managerial sackings but felt particularly sad for his former player Lampard.

"I don't think Frank wants to speak to me or with anyone apart from his close circle of family and friends," Mourinho, who turned 58 on Tuesday, told reporters.

"But I am always sad when a colleague loses his job.

"And Frank is not just a colleague - he is an important person in my career - so I feel sorry he did [get sacked].

"But it is the brutality of football, especially modern football so when you become a manager you know that sooner or later it is going to happen to you."

Mourinho was speaking after a late surge gave Tottenham a 4-1 away win over Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup.

Spurs are fifth in the Premier League, four points and four places ahead of rivals Chelsea, who have only won eight of their first 19 top-flight games this season.

In a statement after his sacking, Lampard said he was disappointed at being prevented from taking Chelsea to the next level.

But the former Derby County boss expressed pride at the emergence of several academy players during his tenure.

Gareth Bale impressed in a scoring display during Tottenham's 4-1 FA Cup win at Wycombe Wanderers, with Jose Mourinho insisting he has no worries over the Wales star's fitness.

Bale returned to Spurs on loan from Real Madrid in September but an initial knee problem delayed his second debut and he has largely existed on the periphery of Mourinho's plans in the Premier League.

He was once again called into cup action at Adams Park and produced an all-action performance, equalising after Fred Onyedinma put the Championship's bottom club ahead against the run of play.

Mourinho still had to call for the cavalry from the bench as Wycombe withstood a second-half onslaught.

Harry Kane and Son Heung-min both went close, but fellow substitute Tanguy Ndombele finished superbly for a late brace after Harry Winks' cool chip gave Spurs an 86th-minute lead.

Faltering Premier League champions Liverpool are next on the agenda for Tottenham and Mourinho suggested Bale had done his prospects of adding to a solitary top-flight start this term no harm at all.

"He looked good, taking on players, scored the goal," he told a post-match news conference.

"I never felt that he could not play 90 minutes, I never felt I had to take him off.

"The Championship is a good level. That is good. I am happy."

If Bale is concerned over whether he can make himself a fixture in Mourinho's first XI, he should look no further than Ndombele.

The former Lyon midfielder was not always trusted when the ex-Chelsea boss replaced Mauricio Pochettino last term, but he is now a player on top form and oozing confidence, as his late salvo emphatically showed.

"He is very creative. He's one of these players who can break the balance [of a game]," Mourinho told BT Sport.

"They tried to get him man-against-man. Number 18 [Curtis Thompson] was man-against-man with him.

"But he is always the kind of player who can break that. If, on the top of that, he can score a goal for us, even better."

Tottenham were forced to come from behind before securing a 4-1 FA Cup win over Wycombe Wanderers.

The Championship's bottom club stunned their Premier League opponents when Fred Onyedinma capitalised on fine work by Uche Ikpeazu.

Gareth Bale went close either side of the opener and was on hand to level in first-half stoppage time.

Spurs dominated after the break, although Jose Mourinho felt the need to introduce Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Tanguy Ndombele - the latter sealing a place in round five with a late brace after Harry Winks' classy 20-yard chip gave the visitors the lead for the first time in the 86th-minute.

Gareth Bale must earn every minute on the pitch at Tottenham with Jose Mourinho insisting he does not give them out easily. 

On loan from Real Madrid and facing an uncertain future, Bale is yet to hit the heights since delighting Spurs fans with his return to the club in September. 

Issues with the winger's form and fitness have meant he has only started one Premier League match, while he is yet to complete 90 minutes in any competition. 

Ahead of Monday's FA Cup fourth-round tie at Wycombe Wanderers, Mourinho was asked if it would be beneficial to give Bale regular outings of between 30 and 60 minutes to build up his fitness and confidence. 

Mourinho, however, suggested performances in training held the key to his decision. 

The former Madrid head coach hopes Bale will come through this week unscathed in order to boost his chances of a long run-out against Championship outfit Wycombe. 

"I cannot give players minutes," Mourinho said about Bale. "Minutes on the pitch are not something I can give. I wouldn't go in this direction.  

"We all know the difficulties he had for a couple of seasons. We all know that he arrived injured. We all know that even this season he has been a little bit up and down with small things.  

"The most important thing is to be consistent and training without any problems. 

"When a player is consistently training high intensity without any kind of problems then the player is ready not to be given minutes but is ready to earn minutes. That to me is a different thing." 

Mourinho added: "This week, he is working every minute like everybody else at a good intensity.  

"Let's see the way he reacts to that accumulation, to that load of work. Let's see how he reacts by the end of the week.  

"If he feels - because it is also about his own feelings - that the week that he had has had a positive impact on him and his confidence, he will play the match on Monday." 

Amid reports Tottenham would not be extending Bale's loan spell for a second season, Mourinho insisted last week that no decision had yet been made.

Jose Mourinho has clarified Dele Alli was only left out of the Tottenham squad against Sheffield United due to injury.

The absence of Alli from the matchday squad in Spurs' 3-1 away Premier League win last Sunday was another talking point in a turbulent season for the attacking midfielder.

Alli has only started one Premier League game this season and has been linked with a move away from Spurs, with Paris Saint-Germain a mooted destination.

Mourinho insisted a tendon injury was the reason Alli was left out and listed him among the injury doubts for Monday's FA Cup fourth-round tie at Wycombe Wanderers.

"The reason he did not play or was not selected for Sheffield is everything in relation to the injury that he has," Mourinho told reporters when asked about Alli.

"It's not an injury that will keep him out for weeks and weeks like Giovani Lo Celso.

"But is an injury that doesn't allow him to train fully with the team and like in the last couple of days, no chance for him even to train. So that's the situation for now.

"The injuries that have no doubts about playing or not playing is still Gio, who will be a couple more weeks. We have two or three players who have small injuries.

"Matt Doherty, who was not involved at Sheffield [is a doubt], Dele Alli has not been training in recent days with small problem in the tendon but not sure that he can [play], and Serge Aurier, not really well. 

"We still have three days before the match though and the only one I can say is out is Gio."

Mourinho recently praised the turnaround in midfielder Tanguy Ndombele’s Tottenham career, hailing his attitude.

But he insisted that should not have been perceived as a direct comparison with Alli ahead of what he expects to be a tough test against Championship outfit Wycombe.

Mourinho said: "I don't like to go in that direction, I was speaking specifically about Tanguy. 

"I didn't want to accept any responsibility in the change. That's the way I look at things. We are an external source of motivation. The real source is the player himself. 

"I was speaking of course in a very happy way about the Tanguy transformation and the way he is playing.

"With all the respect to Marine [in the last round], Wycombe is a different level, is a more difficult challenge. What we did well against Marine is not enough to win against Wycombe. 

"They are fully professionals, they are talented people, they have ambitions. We need more than we gave against Marine. 

"With all the professionalism the boys behaved there, but we need more because the game is going to be more difficult."

After facing Wycombe, Tottenham have a huge Premier League match at home to champions Liverpool on Thursday.

Jose Mourinho has insisted he is happy with his striker options at Tottenham amid speculation linking the club with a move for Southampton star Danny Ings.

Ings is reportedly a top target for Spurs with his contract due to expire in 18 months and the England international seeking Champions League football.

Mourinho was adamant he would not directly respond to questions about Ings given he is employed by another club.

But the Spurs boss is happy with his options at centre-forward, which include on-loan Benfica forward Carlos Vinicius.

"Let's go bit by bit," Mourinho said.

"[We have] two strikers, we are not a team that needs a third striker because the third striker is Sonny [Son Heung-min]. 

"Of course we have the best [Harry Kane] and we are happy with Carlos.

"Carlos is not our player, he is a Benfica player, but he is a player we are helping to develop and he is helping the team so we are happy with the situation.

"Ings of course I refuse totally to say any word about him because he is a Southampton player and I respect that."

Mourinho was also asked about reports linking Gedson Fernandes with Torino, having previously said the player's 18-month loan with the club could end early.

Fernandes is, like Vinicius, on loan from Benfica, but the midfielder has not started a single Premier League game in a year at the club.

"We don’t speak with other clubs," Mourinho said of the Torino reports.

"We speak with Benfica. Since the moment where we felt that we were not giving to Gedson the possibilities of playing many matches, we felt that we didn't have the right to keep him. 

"If he stays, great. Every time he plays he does always well. But we never felt the right to keep a player that is not our player and is not playing. 

"Benfica knows we are open to cooperate with a friendly club like they are. If there is any other club involved, that I cannot confirm."

Spurs are away to Championship side Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup fourth round on Monday.

Jose Mourinho is preparing for Tottenham's Premier League clash against Aston Villa to go ahead as scheduled on Wednesday.

After a significant coronavirus outbreak, Villa used youth players in a 4-1 FA Cup loss to Liverpool on Friday.

The outbreak has put their hosting of Spurs at risk, but a postponement would create more fixture chaos for Tottenham.

After a 5-0 FA Cup win over Marine on Sunday, Mourinho was asked when Tottenham's next game would be and the Spurs head coach responded: "Wednesday."

"No-one has told me any different that I am not going to play so tomorrow morning we'll start preparing that game," he added.

"The same Tuesday, unless we're told different."

Spurs are fourth in the Premier League table, four points behind Liverpool and Manchester United.

Jose Mourinho was delighted to see Carlos Vinicius' patience for minutes rewarded with a hat-trick and praised Tottenham's professional approach in the 5-0 FA Cup beating of non-league Marine.

Brazilian forward Vinicius made just his fifth start of the season, four of those coming in the Europa League, and netted three times in the first half of the third-round tie at Rossett Park on Sunday.

Vinicius plays second fiddle to Harry Kane and Mourinho felt his performance was emblematic of a Spurs team that showed plenty of respect to their eighth-tier opponents, who are 116 places below them in the English football pyramid.

"It is nice for him. Of course, for a striker that doesn't play a lot because in front of him is the big one," Mourinho told BBC Sport.

"Every time he has a little chance to play, like in the Europa League, he is there for us and we are very happy.

"I think the boys were professionals and didn't stop until the game was over in terms of the result. 

"The attitude was positive and that means a lot for me and also for the competition and to Marine's guys, because they felt we played seriously."

Lucas Moura was on target with a superb free-kick as Spurs led 4-0 at the break, with 16-year-old Alfie Devine making history as Tottenham's youngest ever player and scorer after drilling home the fifth on the hour.

Brazil forward Lucas was thrilled for his compatriot Vinicius, saying: "I'm very happy today, very happy for my friend Vinny, let's go for the next game."

Jose Mourinho revealed Tottenham have managed to carefully "hide" their COVID-19 problems as he insisted Premier League chiefs must not let the season descend into chaos.

The Spurs manager is relishing the distraction of an FA Cup tie at Marine on Sunday, describing the competition as "absolutely beautiful" and promising to take a star-studded squad to face the minnows.

But Tottenham would be left in an "impossible situation", according to Mourinho, if next Wednesday's Premier League clash with Aston Villa is called off.

Villa have experienced a major outbreak of coronavirus cases and their first-team training facilities were closed ahead of Friday's cup clash with Liverpool.

Tottenham have already had a London derby with Fulham called off under similar circumstances, and fixtures are piling up.

Mourinho wants a solution to be found and appealed for "leadership" from league top brass, suggesting there should be ways found to allow games to go ahead.

"The only thing I can say is that since pre-season, we knew that eventually it would happen to us, to have difficult situations to manage and to play again with 14 players," Mourinho said.

"I think every club was mentally ready for it."

Mourinho pointed to his former club Chelsea fielding Petr Cech at under-23 level recently, with the veteran goalkeeper coming out of retirement in case he is needed in a crisis.

"Every club was mentally ready for an extreme situation of having a lot of players not available to play," said Mourinho.

"In our case, we didn't have that extreme situation yet but we had problems. We had problems that of course with the legal right that we had, we managed to hide it, to hide it in a way by not telling who was positive and who was not able to play.

"But we are also having our problems. But we always thought we would always play. I cannot say much more than that."

Tottenham, like all clubs, have not been obliged to identify players who have tested positive for COVID-19, which has allowed Mourinho to avoid cases being publicised.

Those affected must go into self-isolation, but it appears Tottenham are in a good way ahead of their trip to Marine.

Mourinho remembered facing lower-league sides during his coaching career, pointing out the day his Chelsea side lost 4-2 to Bradford City in the FA Cup fourth round, back in the 2014-15 season.

"The FA Cup is absolutely beautiful," he said. "That's why, even knowing that I would love to rest all my guys. I cannot do it. It's not about being afraid, it's about giving the guys what they deserve.

"I'm not taking everybody. But out of 20, I take 19 first-team players. so you can imagine how strong we go."

Mourinho promised he would even enter the Marine club raffle, which offers a top prize of managing the eighth-tier team in a pre-season friendly. With no gate receipts, Marine are understandably looking for other ways of monetising the glamour tie.

"I will buy a ticket. Even if I win, I cannot do it," Mourinho said. "I don’t think I will have conditions to do that, but the meaning of it yes, I will be buying it."

The Northern Premier League North West part-timers and Spurs will go down in the record books as having the biggest gap between each other in the pyramid in the history of the FA Cup when they meet at Marine Travel Arena.

Marine sit sixth in their section of the eighth tier of English football, while Tottenham are fourth in the Premier League, reached the final of the EFL Cup this week and remain in the hunt for Europa League glory.

Mourinho will demand victory, of course, and will be quietly testing his players' appetite for the romance of the game.

"This is just a match that can show me how much they love football," he added. "Nothing else."