Tottenham News: Antonio Conte says Dejan Kulusevski could return from injury vs Arsenal

Manager Antonio Conte has delivered an update on Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison, and Rodrigo Bentancur ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s clash against Arsenal on Sunday (January 15).

Richarlison has been out since suffering from an injury at the 2022 FIFA World Cup with Brazil. Bentancur similarly picked up a fitness issue in Uruguay’s World Cup group-stage win against Ghana.

Kulusevski, meanwhile, has missed our games against Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, and Portsmouth in recent weeks due to a muscle injury. However, Conte has claimed that the Sweden international is fit enough to make his return against Arsenal.

He said at his pre-match press conference (h/t Football.London):

“The news for sure the situation is going to improve, especially for Deki, for Kulusevski. He had training session in the last few days with us. He’s going to be ready to play. About Richy and Rodrigo, both situations are improving.”

“I think in this moment Deki is much more ready to play and especially don’t take risks. For us, it is important to have patience ahead of this period and not to risk accelerating and lose them for a long period. We will see. We have another training session tomorrow to monitor the situation with Rodrigo and Richy.”

Of course, it’s a blow that Richarlison and Bentancur could still be a miss for us. The former has been suffering from a hamstring issue while the latter has adductor problems.

But Kulusevski’s return will be a massive boost for our frontline. The former Juventus winger has shown time and again this season that we are a much better side in attack, especially down the right flank, when he is playing and on song.

Bryan Gil has been decent in recent weeks, but Deki will be an upgrade in that position. This will allow Conte to field a front three of Kulusevski, Harry Kane, and Son Heung-min.

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For Bentancur, we have had Pape Matar Sarr, Oliver Skipp, and Yves Bissouma as options to stick alongside Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. While Skipp and Sarr had important minutes in our 1-0 win against Pompey, Bissouma will be the safer option to start against the Gunners.