Antonio Conte gives Tottenham Hotspur team news ahead of Manchester City clash
According to Alasdair Gold, the club correspondent of Football.London, Antonio Conte has provided the latest team news on Tottenham Hotspur as they prepare to face off against Manchester City. The Premier League match will take place tomorrow at Etihad Stadium as his side will be facing one of the sternest challenges they have dealt with so far.
Tottenham have a couple of injury concerns coming into this match which would deal a major blow when taking on the league champions. Oliver Skipp remains out of contention with a groin issue, whereas Japhet Tanganga will join him in the stands with a knee problem. There is also one Covid case, but the identity of the player has not been revealed. He will also miss the game tomorrow, so only time will tell who has contracted the virus in the build-up to the league fixture.
Fortunately, Eric Dier has recovered from the setback he endured on his thigh and will be available for selection as a result. Steven Berwijn had picked up a knock on his calf, but Conte has confirmed that the winger is completely recovered from the issue.
“Dier is available. Skippy is working and getting better but he’s not ready. Tanganga the same. We’ve recovered Bergwijn because 3 days ago he had a little problem in his calf.”
Conte’s biggest test yet?
The return of Dier will give us a much-needed boost in defence, considering the issues that were highlighted in the two recent losses. His ability to progress the ball up the pitch while playing a sweeping role is crucial to the Italian coach’s style of play. As such, his absence was certainly felt over the past few fixtures.
Skipp is one of those players who have become reliable choices for the 52-year-old boss. He has been excellent under the manager and is among the consistent performers of the squad. It is good to know that his recovery is going smoothly as we undoubtedly need his services at the earliest.
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Tanganga is the least of the concerns as his absence can be covered by the 28-year-old’s return to the squad. Moreover, others like Davinson Sanchez can deputise in the centre-back slot if there is a need for it. That being said, the coronavirus case will be concerning since it could be anyone from the team apart from the ones already mentioned.
As such, we must wait and see if there will be updates on the unknown player in the build-up to the match tomorrow. Bergwijn missing out could have caused issues due to the lack of depth, but luck has favoured us this time around.
Ideally, we would have wanted to be in much better form coming into this game. However, that is not the case, so we are in for a difficult task which must be overcome tomorrow. Pep Guardiola’s team is arguably the best in world football at this instant which alone should ring warning bells within our squad. Let’s hope that they can raise their level to face the challenge as they did against Liverpool in the 2-2 draw.
