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Football London
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Sam Hill

Antonio Conte plays Tottenham waiting game to avoid handing Arsenal North London Derby advantage

Antonio Conte refused to reveal which players in his squad are struggling with injuries ahead of the North London Derby clash against Arsenal.

Conte lauded Mikel Arteta for the job he is doing at the Emirates Stadium, labelling the Spaniard as a 'really good coach' whilst also praising his rivals' summer transfer business. Summer signing Gabriel Jesus has hit the ground running since arriving from Manchester City in a deal worth £45million, scoring four goals and providing a further three assists in seven appearances, and will certainly be a key threat against the Lilywhites.

The Gunners remain hopeful that Thomas Partey, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu will be fit for the vital clash on Saturday, football.london understands. However, Conte is facing a few issues of his own as Spurs look to leapfrog their rivals and cause an upset away from home.

READ MORE: Arsenal star Emile Smith Rowe undergoes surgery as extent of injury revealed

The Lilywhites boss refused to detail the injury problems he is facing ahead of the game against Arsenal so that the north London rivals do not gain any advantage in their preparations for the clash. Speaking in his press conference ahead of the North London Derby, Conte said: "Honestly I don't want to speak about the injury because I don't want to give advantage to Arsenal, yeah?

"But for sure we have to face some problems, some physical problems and we have to know also that we have just started to play the first game in a run that we have to play 13 days in 43 days. For sure we have to try to make the best solution and to try not to take big risks because if we take big risks and lose players for the rest of the games, it will be a disaster.

"I repeat to play every three days I need to count on the whole squad and we try with the players to also make the best decision."

Conte admitted he needs to assess his squad today after some unnamed players returned from international duty with some 'physical problems'. The Spurs manager added: "We have to wait until tomorrow [Friday] to check some players because they return from the national team with some physical problems.

"Tomorrow will be very important, the last training session, to understand the players we can count (on). At the moment we have to wait."

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