Antonio Conte has admitted that he faces a rotation dilemma with his Tottenham squad ahead of their clash with Manchester City on Saturday. It comes as Spurs only have two days to recover before they face the Premier League champions following their outing in the Champions League.
They go into the huge Premier League clash off the back of a huge win in the European competition, securing a 2-0 victory over French side Olympique Marseille. While they struggled to get out of the blocks in the opening 45 minutes, they provided much more threat after the break.
The away side were reduced to ten men early in the second half as Chancel Mbemba took out Son Heung-Min as he went bearing through on goal. It remained goalless until the final 15 minutes, where Richarlison opened the scoring for the Lilywhites.
READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings vs Marseille: Richarlison the hero, Kulusevski impact and Son struggles
The summer signing found himself free in the middle of the six-yard area to head home beyond Pau Lopez. Just five minutes later, he scored from almost the exact same position, flicking the ball on from a cross to double the lead and give all three points to the home side on their return to the Champions League.
It means the side remains unbeaten this season under Conte, but face a Manchester City side on Saturday who have started the same. Spurs have often had the better side of results against their Sky Blue opponents, but with little time to recover, the head coach will have to be careful with his selection.
One dilemma surrounds the decision to start Richarlison, who has impressed in cameo appearances since his big-money mand ove from Everton in the summer. The Brazilian has added squad depth as well as desire and quality that has been needed for such occasions.
He has often been used to replace one of Son or Dejan Kulusevski, with the latter being the one sacrificed in the starting 11 on Wednesday. When asked about the decision between those three, Conte said after the match: "I have for sure a big decision, not only this [Richarlison or Dejan Kulusevski].
"Because honestly, I’m a bit worried because we are going to play against [Manchester] City in two days and it’s not easy, because I think some players need to rest and to recover. We have many players that played every game until now.
"But on one hand you know we have to make rotations to give these players a possibility to rest, and we have to try to find a good balance to make rotations because we are playing City and then Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League. It's not easy when you play matches every few days because especially in the Champions League.
"Because in the Europa League, Europa Conference League group stage you can make more rotations and then you can afford also to lose some games because you know that in the end you're going to recover. The Champions League is always a massive game.
"Now we have to manage the game very well for the game against Manchester City. I have to trust in my players and to make rotations. Because it would be impossible to play with the same players on Saturday and then Tuesday. Impossible, but yeah not easy, for sure."
It may reach a time of the season when Conte's summer transfer plan comes into play, having added a number of new bodies to try and cope with the demanding fixture schedule that the teams struggled to at times at the back end of last season. While there remains questions over the forward options, they are good ones to have as their ideal form continues.
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