Tottenham could be without 2 key players for the North London derby

While Arsenal have been emboldened by the news that Thomas Partey will likely be fit to start Saturday’s North London derby, Tottenham could be without two key players for the upcoming clash at the Emirates.

The Gunners confirmed on Thursday that Emile Smith Rowe will undergo surgery and will thus be out until December, but the injury news has been pretty positive for the club over the past couple of days.

Both Martin Odegaard and Oleksandr Zinchenko, who missed the 3-0 victory at Brentford, are both expected to return to the fold, while Reiss Nelson could make the matchday squad for the first time in almost two months.

Spurs, on the other hand, are sweating over the statuses of a pair of key players.

Tottenham could be without 2 key players for the North London derby

Hugo Lloris was forced to withdraw from the France squad for their recent Nations League clashes with a thigh injury, while Dejan Kulusevski has returned to north London with a hamstring problem. Both are doubts for Saturday’s game and Antonio Conte was coy to disclose any updates on his injured stars.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the Italian said (via Alasdair Gold): “I don’t want to speak about the injuries because I don’t want to give advantage to Arsenal. But for sure we have to face some problems, physical problems and we have to know also we have just started to play the first game in a run of 13 games in 43 days.

“For sure we have to try to make the best solution and not take big risks. If we take big risks and lose players for the rest of the games, it will be a disaster. To play with three games I need to count on the whole squad,” Conte added.

“We have to wait tomorrow to check some players because they returned from the national team with some physical problems. Tomorrow’s training session will be very important to understand the players we can count on.”

The absence of Lloris will be a strange sight for Tottenham supporters, but it’d be a massive boost for the Gunners. Although, if the Frenchman does miss out, Fraser Forster, who produced a Man of the Match display against Arsenal at the back end of last season for Southampton, will start in his place.

Moreover, if Kulusevski doesn’t recover in time, that would open the door to Conte potentially deploying a 3-5-2 instead of utilising Richarlison in the Swede’s absence.

Nevertheless, judging from Conte’s presser, it appears that we won’t fully understand Spurs’ injury situation until 11:30 (BST) on Saturday morning.