Oliver Skipp has admitted his return to full fitness has taken longer than he would have liked. Coming in for plenty of praise from Antonio Conte during the first two months of the Tottenham head coach's tenure, injury restricted the midfielder to only 15 Spurs appearances across 2022.
Having missed the final four months of last season due to a pelvic injury that later required surgery, Skipp then sustained a freak impact injury in pre-season training that unfortunately left him on the sidelines once again. With chances just not coming his way with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur in fine form in the middle of the park, the academy graduate has had to bide his time and be very patient for an opportunity in Conte's team.
Initially named on the bench for Saturday's FA Cup win over Portsmouth before he was drafted into the team ten minutes before kick-off after Yves Bissouma picked up a knock in the warm-up, it was the player's second successive start after featuring from the off in the 4-0 win over Crystal Palace. After an extremely frustrating past year for the player, Skipp declared the break in play for the World Cup was "massive" for him and likened it to another pre-season.
