Tottenham Hotspur are taking a full-strength squad to North Macedonia for Thursday’s Europa League third qualifying round tie with Shkendija.

Spurs’ EFL Cup game on Tuesday was called off as Leyton Orient players tested positive for coronavirus.

“The team that was supposed to play last night is different to the team tomorrow,” boss Jose Mourinho said.

“The main reason is that we played last Sunday at Southampton and one thing is Sunday, Tuesday and another is Sunday, Thursday.

“So this is a normal situation for a football player of this level to have three days rest and to play again on Thursday.”

Sergio Reguilon and Gareth Bale are not ready to play yet following their moves from Real Madrid.

It is over a decade since Spurs – who came from behind to beat Lokomotiv Plovdiv 2-1 last week – failed to qualify for the group stages of European competition.

“We took it very seriously in Bulgaria, but even so, we weren’t very far away from an unhappy night,” Mourinho said.

“For the game tomorrow, we didn’t need that experience, but maybe it helps, because we know how tricky this can be.

“Is the Europa League a competition that we want very much to get to the group stage? Yes it is.”

The game will be held at the Tose Proeski Arena, the national stadium, in Skopje because Shkendija’s stadium does not meet Uefa’s requirements.

This is their seventh consecutive season in Europa League qualifying but they have never reached the group stages. They finished third in last season’s shortened Macedonian league.