Tottenham face a tricky assignment at the City Ground where they take on an unpredictable Nottingham Forest side on Super Sunday, and a certain Spurs duo have dropped telling line-up hints.
The Lilywhites and their supporters had to watch on this Saturday to see all their big six rivals pick up maximum points in their clashes against Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Leicester City and Fulham, respectively. Fast forward 24 hours, and it's now Antonio Conte's sides turn to try and continue their solid start to the season as they face Steve Cooper's up and down Nottingham Forest side.
After a tight and tense 1-0 home victory against Wolves, Conte is expecting more of the same against a new Premier League outfit with the 'atmosphere' advantage on their side. "Forest started the season very well. I think it's good, nice to have Nottingham Forest in the Premier League because we're talking about a club with a great history," the Italian said in his pre-match press conference.
READ MORE: Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham LIVE: Kick-off time, confirmed team news, goal and score updates
"I've seen there's a great enthusiasm, great atmosphere, my expectation is to play around a lot of noise. But we're working well and preparing well. We know the game will be difficult. We have to go into the game with the right mind and try to do our best."
Amidst all the build-up to this big Super Sunday clash, there were rumours that a few players could be shipped out before. That hasn't happened this week with the likes of Bryan Gil and other fringe players continuing training with the first-team squad. Gil himself is the subject of strong interest from La Liga outfit Valencia.
Tottenham are willing to sell, but the move depends on one condition, as manager Genaro Gattuso admitted in his latest press conference as Valencia boss. "This. We are waiting for Tottenham to find a replacement. They have told us that it is 99% done."
Conte confirmed Gattuso's stance about a replacement with his own admission: "For sure if there are players that go out, then we need players to come in. The club know very well the importance for me to have a squad with a couple of players in every role.
For sure, we want to make happy every single player, but at the same time, we have to make the right evaluation for our club, for our team, so we'll see what happens."
If 99% done, who is this replacement and will this affect the 21-year-old's status in the squad?
Whilst that factor remains to be seen, two players certain to be in the squad for this one are Emerson Royal and Yves Bissouma. Both players have posted match-day graphics on their respective Instagram accounts, which usually indicates that they will be, at the very least, in the travelling cohort.
Asides from the duo, there are four injury doubts that Conte confirmed coming into this one with two certain players ruled out indefinitely.
He informed: "About Cuti [Cristian Romero], Cuti's recovery is going very well. I think at the start of next week, like Skippy, they start to have the training session with the rest of the team, but they are not available for this game. I have to check a couple of situations about Lucas and Gil because today they didn't have a training session with us, but we have tomorrow to make the right decision for both players."
Tottenham fans- who do you reckon the replacement for Bryan Gil will be? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
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