Tottenham midfielder Oliver Skipp has admitted his return to full fitness did not go as he expected.

The midfielder was a favourite of coach Antonio Conte at the start of his tenure.

However, Skipp has only managed 15 games during 2022, suffering from various injury issues.

"I feel like it does take more time than I probably appreciated," the England Under-21s midfielder told N17 about finding his sharpness now that he is back.

"When it first happened I thought I was just going to come back and be flying. It has taken longer than perhaps I would have liked, I will be honest about that.

"Definitely that World Cup period was massive for me as in pre-season I had the foot [injury] as well which was bad timing, so it was almost like a restart, another pre-season for me to get in the running and get that sharpness back. Nothing replaces being out on the pitch.

“You can train as much as you want but to get that match sharpness is always important. It was nice actually to get back-to-back games as I played Palace and this [Portsmouth]."