Antonio Conte has admitted that he is not sure whether Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Cristian Romero will recover in time for Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League match against Sporting on Wednesday evening.
Both players were absent from the match day squad in yesterday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Newcastle United having picked up respective injury issues in the loss at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.
Conte was asked about the condition of the pair after seeing his side slump to a successive defeat in the Premier League and revealed that Hojbjerg had picked up a thigh problem and Romero is nursing a calf issue caused by fatigue.
The Italian also ruled out any prospect of Richarlison or Dejan Kulusevski making a surprise return against the Portuguese opposition, where Spurs can book their place in the knockout stages with victory.
He told Football.London: “Romero was the last two or three games, he arrived every day half and half to decide if he play or doesn’t play. I think in the past we have taken risk. The players gave their availability to play otherwise honestly if the player doesn’t want to play, I don’t force the player.
“Now after the game against United, he felt a lot of fatigue and then yesterday he felt fatigue in his calf. Before in his thigh, the right. Now left in the calf. Pierre it was the same because Pierre played every game, he played every minute and he was really tired. About Richy and Deki? No chance. I don’t know about Pierre and Cuti for Wednesday. If you ask me in this moment, I don’t have an answer because I don’t know the way they recover from this fatigue and this situation. If they have something, Romero in his calf or Pierre in his thigh.”
SpursWeb Opinion
A little over a week ago, the landscape at Tottenham looked so different. The club had just enjoyed their best-ever start to a Premier League campaign, still had Richarlison fit and knew that by the end of the month their place in the next round of the Champions League could be sealed.
Now, with injury issues flowing through his squad, Conte faces another selection dilemma when Sporting visit on Wednesday – in a match that the Spurs fans will be demanding they win after witnessing some drab performances in their last two outings.