Emmanuel Adebayor didn't train on Friday

Andre Villas-Boas has named a 19-man team squad that he will select players from for Tottenham Hotspur's match against Newcastle United on Saturday. The reason his squad has 19 players is because Emmanuel Adebayor, who remained in Africa following Togo's elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations until today, did not make it to Friday's training session. He'll have to prove that he's fit to play, and he could potentially be left out.

From David Hytner at The Guardian, here's the situation:

The striker had been granted three days off by Villas-Boas after the defeat in the hope that he could return for training at 3pm on Thursday. The schedule came to be readjusted but the player still could not make it.

He did touch down in London on Friday afternoon but not in time for the session at the club's base in Enfield, leaving Villas-Boas to decide whether to name him as a substitute for the visit of Newcastle. Villas-Boas has kept his options open by including Adebayor in the 19-man matchday squad.

Obviously, no one knows Adebayor's situation. He was given extra time to return to the team by Villas-Boas, possibly for a very good reason. He probably experienced legitimate problems at the airport over the last couple of days. It's possible that he did nothing wrong, and it's also possible that he's been very irresponsible.

In any event, he's not going to start against Newcastle. Because he failed to train, it's possible he doesn't play at all. I assume that he'll make the bench, but that's far from a sure thing. Hopefully, Adebayor and Villas-Boas are on the same page about Adebayor's absence, he trains all week next week, and we see him in the starting XI shortly.