Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - March 20, 2022. Tottenham Hotspur's Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Cristian Romero celebrate.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte has shared a pre-Sporting Lisbon update on the fitness of star duo Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Cristian Romero.
The Lowdown: Injury concerns
The Lilywhites pair were left out of the matchday squad for the 2-1 Premier League defeat to Newcastle United last weekend, causing concern that they may have picked up injuries.
However, Antonio Conte has since confirmed that the players were simply fatigued and needed to be rested, with a late decision expected to be made on their fitness ahead of tonight’s game.
The Latest: Conte’s fitness update
Speaking to SPURSPLAY on Tuesday, the boss revealed that Hojbjerg and Romero have only participated in half of a training session, with a last-minute call set to be made on whether they can be involved.
As quoted by the club’s official website, he said:
“You know about Kulusevski and Richy, they are out, not a possibility, not available. They need a bit of time to recover.
“About Pierre and Cuti, tomorrow morning, we will see. Today, they had half of a training session, and the situation wasn’t so positive, but, we are talking about two important players for us and it’s right to wait until the end, because tomorrow’s game is really important.
“We want to go to the next round, and we have an important opportunity with a win to do that. It will be a great achievement for us, and, for this reason, I want to wait until tomorrow morning and, together, also with players who haven’t played for a long time like Lucas Moura, I need to understand and to pick the best starting XI.”
The Verdict: Massive opportunity
Tottenham are currently in a slump of form having suffered back-to-back league defeats, but the European game vs Ruben Amorim’s side presents an opportunity to turn things around.
Victory in the capital tonight would mean that Spurs finish top of their group and therefore advance to the last 16 of the competition.
The potential return of Romero and Hojbjerg would only increase the chances of that happening, though time will tell whether or not they’ll be in contention to take to the field.
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