Tottenham will learn in the next 24 hours if Antonio Conte can attend Sunday's home game against Manchester City.
Conte is still recuperating in Italy following surgery to remove his gallbladder in his homeland on Wednesday, but is hoping to be cleared by doctors to be in the stadium for the visit of the champions. It has not been decided if he will watch from the director's box or dugout if he is well enough to return to London.
"We don't know yet when Antonio is coming back, everything is possible," said the 53-year-old's assistant, Cristian Stellini, on Friday. "The surgery was good. He's recovering well. At the moment he's at home. We have two days until the game and anything can happen.
"The decision will be made tomorrow. We're ready to do everything. Probably the doctor who did surgery has to decide with him."
Stellini has been liaising with Conte over this week's training and the pair will pick the starting XI to face City together -- with deadline-day signing Pedro Porro in contention to start.
Stellini, who also worked with Conte at Juventus and Inter Milan, says it has been easy to know what the head coach wants from his players.
"After the surgery, it's normal not to have the energy to speak," Stellini added. "But he immediately recovered well from the surgery, he called me back and started talking about training and the next game.
"I've grown with Antonio as an assistant. I was a player with him. I know very well his mentality and what he wants from the team. The way we work, linked with Antonio and also with [first-team coach] Ryan Mason, so everyone in the staff is ready to transfer to the players Antonio's idea.
"For me, it's easier than a new assistant because I know Antonio very well. Antonio sends me a message and trusts in us completely. 100 per cent I trust in the staff and we're focussed more than normal because we have to do what Antonio normally does. Antonio is happy about our job.
"It's a long time that I’ve worked with Antonio and I know Antonio. It's not difficult to prepare training. It's more some details a coach has in his idea, sometimes they don't show them to everyone. Antonio explained some detail to me, to be ready to follow training and manage training.
"Obviously we speak about the team that has to start Sunday. Obviously we have one day and one training session to analyse the situation."
Stellini acknowledged that Conte's "big fire" has been missing this week but says it is easy to motivate the squad to face "big beast" City again.
"It's a difficult week because the energy Antonio has is a big fire and all staff has to push themselves to another level to transfer the right things," Stellini said. "We're playing such a difficult match so maybe its easier this week because we have a big beast to challenge, it's normal the players are so focussed on this type of match."
Although their manager is a doubt, Spurs have a fully fit squad for the game, with Brazilian forwards Richarlison and Lucas Moura both available after injury.
