Antonio Conte has stated that Ryan Sessegnon and Yves Bissouma won't be ready to return to match action immediately after the international break. Having the luxury of a fully-fit squad for the win over Man City at the start of February, Tottenham were then hit by injuries to four players in the space of six days.
Firstly seeing goalkeeper Hugo Lloris pick up a knee injury late on in the win over the Premier League champions, it was confirmed a couple of days later that Bissouma would have to undergo surgery to repair a stress fracture to his left ankle. The bad news kept on coming for Spurs as Sessegnon missed out at Leicester City due to a hamstring injury, with Rodrigo Bentancur then sustaining a season-ending injury in the 4-1 humbling after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
Without Bentancur for the remainder of the season, all connected with Tottenham will be hoping that Lloris, Sessegnon and Bissouma are back sooner rather than later to help in their top-four quest. Now with domestic football set to go on a short pause for the first international break of 2023, Conte opened up on the injured players when asked if any of them could use the next fortnight to get closer to fitness and if we are closer to seeing them back in action.
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"We have players that had serious injuries. Sessegnon won't be ready after the international break, it's the same for Bissouma," explained Conte to SPURSPLAY when previewing Saturday's game at Southampton. "About Hugo, this I don't know but maybe he won't be ready. Bentancur's season ended."
Prior to a host of the squad jetting off across the globe to represent their respective countries, Tottenham will be looking to follow up last Saturday's 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest by securing all three points at Southampton. Unable to get the better of Saints last season but beating them 4-1 on the opening day, Conte knows his side are going to be in for a very tough game despite the south coast club propping up the Premier League table.
"Like always, a difficult game. You know in the Premier League there are no easy games and we are going to face a team that is fighting for a good position in the table," said the 53-year-old. "At the same time, I think we have to think to ourselves and try to get points. It will be very important to play a good game and to give continuity after Nottingham Forest win.
He added: "Now we're going to play the last part of the season. For this reason, it is very important in every game to try to get points. You have to pay attention because in every game you can drop points. In the last 11 games we have to try to do our best. We are working very hard and we want to try to give satisfaction to make proud our supporters. For this reason, we are working very hard."
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