Djed Spence lay on the turf, the pain radiating from the left side of his jaw after being cleaned out by the elbow of Chelsea’s Liam Delap in the closing stages of the penultimate Premier League game of the season. Spence had eyes only for the high ball while Delap looked directly at him before spinning and throwing out his left arm. Remarkably, Delap was not sent off. “Yeah, it was a crazy challenge,” Spence says. But the Tottenham full-back, who picked himself up and played on until the end of Spurs’ 2-1 defeat, was never worried about the consequences for his World Cup hopes. “No, not really,” he says. “It was painful but luckily I play football with my feet and not my jaw. So I was all good.”
That defeat meant Spurs needed at least a draw from their final match against Everton to avoid relegation. Wearing a protective jaw brace, Spence helped them win 1-0 and stay up. Now he is in the United States with the England squad, preparing for Wednesday’s final warm-up against Costa Rica in Orlando and the opening World Cup group match against Croatia in Dallas. He wore the brace in England’s 1-0 friendly win over New Zealand in Tampa, setting up Harry Kane’s goal with a perfect cross from the left wing. And he will wear it throughout the tournament. “It’s a little bit uncomfortable but it is what it is,” Spence says. “I’ve got a broken jaw so I have to wear it throughout the tournament. It’s something I will have to get used to. It’ll be three months until it’s fully healed, so it’s a long time.”
“Djed Spence will wear a protective mask at the World Cup after breaking his jaw in a challenge by Chelsea's Liam Delap.”
Spence, 25, admits it has been a “difficult season” with Spurs battling relegation, but he is grateful for the faith shown by England manager Thomas Tuchel, who called him up despite the injury. “Yeah, it shows the manager believes in me, believes in my quality and I’m thankful for him,” Spence says. Tuchel has praised Spence’s versatility – he started as a right back but now considers himself a left back – and identified him as the fastest player in the squad. His ability to cut inside from the left and cross with his right foot has become his signature, as Kane benefited from against New Zealand. “It’s a huge honour, to play for your country is a big thing,” Spence says. “There’s always light at the end of the tunnel and we managed to get out of a difficult situation so we have to move forward. Focus on this World Cup and hopefully it will be a good one.”