Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte has admitted that his side are dealing with some "physical problems" ahead of Saturday's North London derby with Arsenal.
The third-placed Lilywhites have the chance to leapfrog their bitter rivals and rise to the top of the Premier League table with victory at the Emirates, as they sit just one point behind the Gunners.
However, Tottenham have been dealt a number of injury blows ahead of the contest, with Hugo Lloris firstly withdrawing from the France squad due to a minor thigh injury.
Reports on Thursday morning also claimed that Dejan Kulusevski had returned from the Sweden camp with a tight hamstring and is a major doubt for the North London derby as a result.
Ben Davies and Lucas Moura have been sidelined in recent weeks as well, and while Conte refused to name names in his pre-match press conference, the Spurs coach conceded that his side do have some fitness concerns.
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"Honestly I don't want to speak about the injury because I don't want to give advantage to Arsenal, yeah?," football.london quotes Conte as saying.
"But for sure we have to face some problems, some physical problems and we have to know also we have just started to play the first game in a run that we have to play 13 games in 43 days.
"For sure we have to try to make the best solution and not take big risks. If we take big risks and lose players for the rest of the games, it will be a disaster. To play with three games I need to count on the whole squad."
With Kulusevski potentially missing the game, Tottenham fans have been calling for Conte to switch to a 3-5-2 system with Yves Bissouma joining Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the middle.
Conte had previously claimed that Bissouma was behind Bentancur and Hojbjerg in the pecking order, but he has affirmed that the three-man midfield could be an option after the former impressed off the bench against Leicester City.
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"For sure it can be a good option because we have midfields who can play as a three. Bissouma when he came in against Leicester he played well and he is really well integrated with Pierre and Bentancur," Conte added.
"Yeah this could be an option, not only for tomorrow but for the future because if we need to give rest to other players, especially when you have this type of situation that happened with Kulusevski having a problem."
The Spurs boss was also asked about an incident in which a banana was thrown in Richarlison's direction during Brazil's win over Tunisia at the Parc des Princes, and he called for lifetime bans for those responsible for the racist abuse.
"I think we have to take the good part of the situation. Richy played with the national team, scored goals and then what happened is incredible because in 2022 to witness this type of situation is embarrassing for everybody," Conte responded.
"For sure I hope these people are banned from football for the rest of their lives. Then it's a very disappointing situation to have to make a comment on this. I want to take the best part of the game from Richy. He scored goals and he enjoyed playing with Brazil."
Tottenham head into the weekend aiming to snap an 11-game Premier League winless run against Arsenal at the Emirates, with their most recent North London derby win away from home in the top flight coming in November 2010.
Ben Knapton
