Conte not taking any 'stupid risks'

LONDON - From now until the start of the Qatar World Cup on Nov 20, Tottenham Hotspur will have to play nine games.

The fixture congestion means Antonio Conte needs to manage his squad carefully to avoid burnout and not rush players back from injuries too quickly.

That applies to midfielder Dejan Kulusevski, with the Italian revealing at his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's Premier League home game against Everton that the Sweden international was still not ready to return to the fold.

In the build-up to their midweek Champions League win over Eintracht Frankfurt, Conte said Kulusevski, a key player since arriving from Juventus in January, was set to be ready for the weekend. But given the taxing schedule of games ahead, he will wrap the midfielder in cotton wool.

On the 22-year-old, who is also doubtful for Spurs' trip to Manchester United on Oct 19, Conte said: "I think we need to have a bit of patience with (him). Don't take stupid risks. We have to play a lot of games from now until November."

Asked if Kulusevski could travel to Old Trafford, he added: "In this moment, honestly, it is a bit difficult to answer yes or not. It depends on the new MRI (scan) he did today and about what the doctors say about his situation. Also the feeling of the player.

"Because in this situation, it is important to respect the feeling of the player, because the player has to feel 100 per cent, otherwise it's not good to take stupid risks."

Kulusevski has not played for Spurs since sustaining the injury on international duty with Sweden in September and has missed their past four games in all competitions.

While he has been missed, Conte's side have kept up their good form - they are third in the league on 20 points after nine matches and are just four off leaders Arsenal.

They have won all their four home games this season and will be hoping to maintain their record when they host Everton, who are 12th on 10 points.

"Everton are a really good team with a really good manager, Frank Lampard is showing to be a really good manager," Conte said.

"They're showing great stability, especially defensively. We played only two days ago and we lost a lot of mental energy because the Champions League is a fantastic competition to play but you lose a lot of energy in this competition. I think we are ready to play a good game."

Conte's confidence also stems from his strike pairing of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min getting among the goals.

Kane, who has eight goals in the league and is second to Manchester City's Erling Haaland (15) in the Golden Boot race, opened his account in Europe against Frankfurt, while Son has five strikes in his last two home matches.

Conte added: "I wasn't really worried about Sonny or if last season Harry didn't score goals. We are talking about two important players for us. They work very well and you can have a period where you don't score and you are a little bit unlucky."

Matt Doherty is again set to fill in at right-back for the suspended Emerson Royal, but the hosts do not have any other absentees.

The Toffees are missing the quartet of Andros Townsend, Ben Godfrey, Yerry Mina and Nathan Patterson, while Anthony Gordon serves a one-match ban for collecting five yellow cards.

REUTERS

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TOTTENHAM V EVERTON