Tottenham Hotspur start their Premier League campaign at Manchester United tomorrow.

Spurs left it late to complete their pre-season programme with a 2-0 win over AC Milan in Munich on Wednesday at the Audi Cup.

Their preparations for the new season were hardly ideal after German authorities blocked the club’s attempt to fly home early from the country. It means Spurs, who returned to England yesterday, spent very little time in London before flying to Manchester for their lunchtime kick-off tomorrow.

Mauricio Pochettino has plenty of confidence in his squad ahead of the new season and has backed them to succeed.

The head coach told the club website: “We have a young squad and a lot of talent. This is how the club works and we have to recognise the work of all the staff, John McDermott (academy manager) and the coaches with him because this is our identity.

“We need to believe in these players, they need time, they need love, sometimes we need to be strong with them. We believe in this way.”

He added: “It is only one game but we believe 100 per cent in our work. We need to improve more because it’s only the beginning of the season and now we have to compete against Premier League teams.

“I think we are ready and it’s now my problem to pick the starting 11.”

Spurs were beaten 2-0 by Real Madrid on Tuesday but proved too strong for Milan in the third/fourth place play-off.

Tottenham took the lead after eight minutes when Nacer Chadli hit a superb strike into the net from 25 yards.

Spurs made it 2-0 with 20 minutes remaining when Tom Carroll fired home.

Tottenham were boosted by the return from injury of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris after recovering from his fractured wrist.

The French shot stopper came on for the last 35 minutes but this weekend’s opener at Old Trafford is still expected to come a little too soon for him.