Antonio Conte has admitted that he has not considered Eric Dier starting in the Tottenham midfield against AC Milan due to a lack of time. Following injuries to Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur over the past few days, Spurs are extremely short in midfield for the Champions League Round of 16 tie at the San Siro as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg will also not feature as he is serving a one-match ban.
That means youngsters Oliver Skipp and Pape Matar Sarr are the two central midfielders available to Conte. A big ask for the players due to their age and inexperience in such a big game, one option would be to move Dier forward from his centre-back role but that is something that Conte has not considered in the two days since Bentancur ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.
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"For sure we didn't have the time to take into consideration this option. Rodrigo, he had an injury two days ago and for this reason to take also the option, the time was so short that I didn't think of other solutions," said Conte in his pre-match press conference at the San Siro.
"The solution we have in our house with the two young players, Skippy and Pape Sarr. We are talking about two young players. They are the first game in the Champions League. They are really young, 20 and 22 years old, but we have to be good to help them overcome the emotion, but we trust them."
Despite coming into the game on the back of a 4-1 humbling at Leicester City, many see Tottenham as the favourites to progress past AC Milan over the two legs. Conte doesn't see a favourite in the Round of 16 clash, however.
“I don’t think that there is a team with more chances," he admitted. "At such a level all teams have a chance of winning and losing. In the national championship, it’s easier because you play 40 games and if you have a bad step you can recover. You need to be lucky enough to be there with the right physical condition."
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