Antonio Conte must count the cost of injuries galore and suspension problems as he names his Tottenham Hotspur side to face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Wednesday.
The Spurs boss will be looking to turn around the club's fortunes after their 2-0 defeat at home to Aston Villa on New Year's Day saw them slip out of the top four and extend their run to 10 matches in a row of conceding first in all competitions. Patrick Vieira's Palace side will not be looking to offer any sympathy Conte's way on Wednesday evening.
Conte will still be missing Rodrigo Bentancur, Richarlison and Lucas Moura through injury while he said Dejan Kulusevski has a 50-50 chance of being involved after the slight muscle injury that kept him out of the Villa match. Spurs will also be missing Yves Bissouma after the summer signing picked up a fifth yellow card at the weekend to spark a one-match suspension.
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The Tottenham head coach must decide which young player partners Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the centre of the pitch out of 22-year-old Oliver Skipp or 20-year-old Pape Matar Sarr. Conte has taken a shine to the latter after working with him in recent weeks but Skipp has the greater experience of the Premier League and has played alongside Hojbjerg on a number of occasions.
If Kulusevski is not fit to return to start, with a bench role likely if he does make himself available, Conte indicated that Bryan Gil is likely to make back to back starts in the Premier League. At the back the Spurs boss must decide whether to bring Eric Dier back into the defence after the England international spent the Villa match on the bench.
Here is the team we reckon Conte will select:
3-4-3: Lloris; Romero, Dier, Lenglet; Doherty, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Perisic; Gil, Kane, Son.
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