Micky van de Ven hopeful his injury woes can be put behind him with help of longer pre-season | OneFootball

Micky van de Ven says having a full pre-season with Tottenham can finally help him to end his injury woes.

The Dutch defender played just 13 Premier League games last season having struggled with a hamstring problem for much of the campaign.

But he returned to fitness towards the end of the season to help Spurs lift the Europa League trophy and believes having a full pre-season will help him to stay fit.

“I think it’s important,” he said.

“Last year with the Euros, pre-season for me was not that long. I only had one week or two weeks of training before I started the Premier League.

“It is really good that I have these training weeks and that I can do these sessions and build up my strength in this physical training for the season.

“I don’t approach this season any different compared to what it was like.

“I didn’t really have a pre-season at Tottenham before because two years ago I came after the pre-season and last season I had the Euros, so I was not there.

“I don’t approach it differently. Of course there’s more time to work on my body and make my body prepared for the Premier League and for the Champions League and for all the other games that are coming up. So I would say that’s a positive thing that I can work on that.”

Van de Ven arrived under former boss Ange Postecoglou, who has been replaced by Thomas Frank this summer, and the 24-year-old says he is excited to work with the Danish head coach.

“The first couple of weeks have been really good working under the new gaffer,” he said.

“It has been a really good few weeks.

“The first meeting I was not there because I was with the national team. He just showed us his visions and how he wants us to behave on and off the pitch. That’s the first things that are really important to him and that we will get into the group now.”

Spurs take on north London rivals Arsenal in a pre-season friendly in Hong Kong on Thursday, something van de Ven says is more important than the usual pre-season games.

He said: “There is always a lot of pressure before games.

“I go into the game the same as if we play the game in London. Of course the stadium will be full and there will be a lot of fans from our side, so I hope that we can make them happy and give them a good game.”