Tottenham squad woken up three times by fireworks

Tottenham players were woken up three times last night as Marseille fans set off fireworks outside their hotel ahead of their crunch Champions League encounter later today. Spurs must take at least a point against the Ligue 1 side to progress to the knockout stages but their preparation for the match has suffered significant disruption. Tottenham go into the match on top of Group D on eight points while Marseille sit bottom, however a win for the home side will be enough to take them to the next round at the Lilywhites’ expense. There is a lot on the line in what is now a winner takes all clash. Spurs’ preparation for the fixture had already taken a blow after manager Antonio Conte was given a touchline suspension for his reaction to Harry Kane’s late disallowed goal against Sporting Lisbon last week. It now appears they have taken a further hit as a result of the actions of Marseille supporters. Football London reports that opposition fans took to the streets outside the team’s hotel to let off fireworks in an attempt to keep the players awake. There were three prolonged periods of noise at 1am, 3am and 5am which is likely to have seriously disrupted the squad’s sleeping patterns.JUST IN: Newcastle have decided their next signing as January priority emerges Tottenham players have been kept up by fireworks ahead of the Champions League match with Marseille (Image: GETTY)Spurs supporters have also faced disruption in the city centre with Marseille Police decreeing that they cannot enter the city centre in order to negate the possibility of crowd trouble. Clashes between fans marred Les Olympiens European home match against Eintracht Frankfurt and the city’s authorities are hoping to avoid a repeat. Meanwhile, Pierre-Emilie Hojbjerg has been speaking about Conte’s absence from the sidelines, suggesting he has few concerns given the qualities of the Italian’s backroom staff. “Your head coach is a massive part of a team. Luckily he has a very good staff and players that are well aware of what he expects from them,” he told reporters in the pre-match press conference. “We will all try our best to fill the role. In the end no one can fill his role but we will do our best to be together and make sure that we can get through this together, because we have to get through this together and we will do it.DON’T MISSJuventus have ‘true stance’ on Spurs boss Conte as private chat leakedWhat Arsenal medics ‘believe’ about Bukayo Saka injuryCristiano Ronaldo loses Man Utd dressing room title after record beat Tottenham players are preparing for the encounter with Marseille (Image: GETTY)”Conte is a person and coach who lives the game with great passion, with his heart and we are feeling this in a good way. We have to make sure that we are well prepared, which we are. After we have to go to be successful together. The fact is that he will not be there on the sideline. We have to deal with that.”Our ambition is definitely to go through. This is the number one. The key and ambition is to go to the knock-out stages in the Champions League and this is what we are playing for 100 per cent.”Want the latest Premier League news as we publish it on Express Sport? Join our Facebook group by clicking here.