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Emma de Duve

Five Tottenham players who could be in Antonio Conte's starting line-up when Spurs face Wolves

Antonio Conte will have some selection decisions to make, when Tottenham welcome Wolves to N17 on Saturday. In the last fixture between the two sides in north London, Spurs lost and the Italian will want to make sure that result isn't repeated at the weekend.

Ahead of the match, Conte spoke to the media and gave an update on the team news, with football.london reporting on Wednesday evening that Cristian Romero had picked up an injury. "About Cristian, he had a little problem during the game against Chelsea in the final part of the game," Conte explained.

"It's a little problem and after the game he started to feel a bit of pain in his adductor [muscle]. We checked him. The player wanted to give availability but in this situation we have a lot of games to play it would be stupid to take risk. For this reason not available for Wolves."

READ MORE: Every word Antonio Conte said on Cristian Romero, FA charge, Destiny Udogie, Spence and Skipp

There was however, some good news on Oliver Skipp, who hasn't featured in either of the two matchday squads so far. "Good news for Skipp," the 53-year-old said.

"After tomorrow [Friday] he's going to run again. I hope for this player to be a bit lucky because since January he started to have a problem. We'll have him available when we have a lot of games to play."

Conte will hope to have the rest of his squad fully fit and available, for the lunchtime kick-off. Tottenham need to produce a much better performance than they did against Chelsea and get back to winning ways.

The Italian was also asked about his new signings, in his pre match press conference and if they would be in contention to start at the weekend.

"I'm happy because for sure. The first target is this transfer market for the club and for me it was to improve the squad and especially after the qualification for the Champions League, was to create a squad where the level is the same level and I have the possibility to pick 11 players but at the same time know that on the bench are players that if they come in, they can change the situation, they can give the quality and the quality doesn't drop after the substitutions," he added.

"It's very important and then you know very well for now we're playing one game a week and I'm trying, especially at the start to play with the players that know me much better and know our idea of football much better," he explained.

"We are exploiting this time to bring players like Richy, Lenglet and Bissouma, Perisic and all the players we signed. The same also for Spence, to go into our idea of football. We are taking the right steps. We are ready for when we have games every three days to make rotations and it will be good for us."

This indicates there may not be too many changes in the starting line-up but with plenty of options, football.london takes a look at the spots up for grabs.

Defence

Obviously with Romero being unavailable, someone will need to replace him in the right centre-back role. Davinson Sanchez seems the most likely option, as the Colombian was the one who stepped in when the Argentine was injured last season.

The wing-back positions could potentially both see changes against Wolves. Ryan Sessegnon and Emerson Royal have both been given the nod in Tottenham's first two fixtures.

Their displays have followed much of their teammates, with some solid spells against Southampton and an overall poor performance at Stamford Bridge. Conte has built his squad this summer, so that he has the depth to make rotations.

The Italian has mentioned that both Matt Doherty and Ivan Perisic needed to work on their fitness. However, the duo have both come on as substitutes since the season began.

Perhaps Conte will bring both older players into the starting line-up on Saturday, to see if they can impress when given the opportunity. If the Tottenham boss does so, it will also show Sessegnon and Royal that they need to work that extra bit harder, to fight off the competition for regular game time.

Midfield

Rodrigo Bentanur and Pierre Emile Hojbjerg have started in both of Spurs' games so far, with the midfield duo creating a strong partnership last season. With Skipp injured, Yves Bissouma is Conte's other central midfield option.

The 25-year-old has replaced Bentancur in both fixtures so far, as he settles into life at his new club. The Uruguayan was another who struggled with the intensity of the match at Stamford Bridge as it wore on and made way for the new arrival, in the 79th minute.

It is still early days for Bissouma in the Tottenham squad, but perhaps Conte will look to give him his first league start in a Spurs shirt. This will also allow the Italian to really see how he works, alongside Hojbjerg, to try and figure out the strongest midfield partnership.

Attack

Harry Kane scored the 96th-minute equalising goal on Sunday, to secure his side a point in the London derby. Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski both had quiet matches, failing to make their usual impact, which seemed to be a similar case for the former against the Saints too.

Credit does have to go to Chelsea, as their defensive tactics stopped Tottenham's front three creating their usual threat. However, when Richarlison came on, he was another body in the attacking line, which threw the Blues off and the Brazilian made a big impact, in the final quarter of the game.

This may have earned him a start on Saturday, especially with the aforementioned duo not making their usual impact so far and would perhaps most likely replace Kulusveski.

This is exactly why Conte wanted and needed to increase the size of his squad and the quality in the depth of his team. It not only means he can make rotations when he needs to or feels he should, it is also going to make the players want to work harder and play better, knowing they could be dropped after a poor performance.

Plenty of decisions for the Italian to make but he has exactly what he didn't have last season - options - and whoever he picks to start on Saturday, he will expect to step-up and impress.

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