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Emma de Duve

Antonio Conte will not want a repeat of Jose Mourinho failure after Tottenham's victory vs Leeds

Antonio Conte has a number of things he will want to make happen in the next few weeks for Tottenham, after their 4-0 victory over Leeds on Saturday.

Spurs now sit seventh in the Premier League and are five points off fourth placed Man United, with two games in hand.

There were a number of solid performances from Conte's side when his side travelled to Elland Road, as well as Harry Kane and Son Heung-min breaking the Premier League record for the highest number of combination goals.

The Lilywhites have a busy few weeks ahead of the next international break at the end of March and football.london takes a look at Conte's to-do list.

Get injured players back

Conte is still dealing with a number of injuries to his Tottenham team and was handed another blow after the 1-0 defeat to Burnley.

"Rodrigo [Bentancur] has a little injury," the Italian admitted ahead of the Leeds fixutre. "For tomorrow [Saturday] he's not available but I don't think it's a serious problem and I hope in a few days he can come back with us and to train again with us."

Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga have both been out for a number of weeks with a groin and knee injury respectively, but Conte has said he hopes both can return soon.

"About Skipp, he's improving with his problem, it's the same for Japh, then we have another player where we have to make an assessment," the Italian explained.

Every manager wants all of their players available for every game but as the 52-year-old continues to deal with injury issues with his squad, it has left space for the likes of Dane Scarlett, Harvey White and even Alfie Devine to find a place on the bench in recent games.

Alfie Devine made Tottenham's matchday squad agaisnt Leeds on Saturday. (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

FA Cup progress

The Lilywhites' next game is on Tuesday, when they travel to play Middlesbrough in the FA Cup fifth round.

Last season, after beating Marine and Wycombe, Spurs got knocked out at this stage when they travelled to Goodison Park.

Tottenham made it to 4-4 after 90 minutes but Everton scored the winning goal in extra time and knocked Jose Mourinho's Spurs side out of the Cup competition.

"We had the ball, we created, we had great dynamic, movement, scored goals, create more chances, great character to fight against incredible mistakes but attacking football only wins matches when you don't make more defensive mistakes than what you create," Mourinho admitted after the defeat. "We scored four gaols and it was not enough."

Tottenham made a number of defensive mistakes leading to their defeat against The Toffees and it will be something Conte will want to avoid when his side travel to play the Championship team during the week.

Spurs are still going through their almost 14-year trophy drought and with their exit from both the Europa Conference League and the Carabao Cup earlier in the season, they will want to make the most of their last chance at silverware in this campaign.

Premier League fixtures to come

Before Tottenham's victory over Leeds they had lost two home games against Southampton and Wolves, then beat Man City in a thrilling 3-2 victory before a disappointing defeat to Burnley during the week.

The 4-0 win at Elland Road was the positive reaction and three points Conte needed from his side, but it is a team who had lost 6-0 to Liverpool just a few days before and only won five games all season.

It was a solid performance from the Lilywhites and there should be credit given where it's due. However a key issue with a number of the Spurs players is consistency.

Tottenham beat the league leaders and a side who have struggled in recent weeks but either side of that lost to teams they would be very much expected to beat.

After Tuesday's FA Cup tie, Spurs face Everton and then a trip to Man United. Although The Toffees are 17th in the league, their most recent game saw just a 1-0 loss to Man City and when Spurs travelled to Goodsion Park earlier in the season, it was a goaless draw.

When the Lilywhites travel to Manchester, it will also be another tough game with the The Red Devils currently occupying the fourth spot that Spurs want and the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier in the season saw the home side lose 3-0 in what was Nuno Espirito Santo's final game in charge.

Therefore, neither game will be easy and it will be a good indication of whether Spurs have found some form or slip into their inconsistent ways.

Selection decisions

With a busy fixture schedule to come and injuries to deal with, Conte is likely to want to and have to make some rotations to his starting XI.

There is already an ongoing battle on either side for the wing-backs, with Ryan Sessegnon and Sergio Reguilon on the left and Matt Doherty and Emerson Royal on the right.

Conte doesn't have much choice in the middle with both Bentancur and Skipp out with injuries and the back three have performed well in the most recent couple of games.

However with options further up the field and also the Italian's need to avoid further injuries, rotations could become necessary

The likes of Davinson Sanchez, Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn will be amongst the players looking for starts in the next few fixtures and the 52-year-old may look to them to ensure his strongest squad remain fit for the final few months of the season.

Conte will want to get the best out of his squad in the next few weeks up until the international break and will need them to find some consistent form to do so.

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