After finishing bottom of Group F last season, Spurs will look to do better in Group A this time around

Tottenham Hotspur’s under-21s have been placed in Southern Section Group A of the 2018/19 Checkatrade Trophy.

Wayne Burnett’s team will take on League One clubs Gillingham and Portsmouth as well as League Two outfit Crawley Town.

Dates and times of the upcoming fixtures will be announced in due course, but Spurs can expect a tough test against some strong clubs.

Burnett’s team were placed in Southern Section Group F last season and they finished bottom with one point from three games.

The Tottenham youngster started brightly with a 2-2 draw at Luton Town on August 15, but lost a penalty shoot-out 4-2 to only claim a single point from the game.

Defeats to AFC Wimbledon, on October 3, and Barnet (November 28) followed, as the Spurs under-21s struggled to make their mark on the competition.

This season they will look to do better and most importantly continue to expose their academy players to competitive men’s football.

EFL clubs have now been given the opportunity to name players who are out on loan at National League clubs whilst invited teams will only be able to name two players who are over the age of 21 and have made more than 40 first-team appearances.