Tottenham Hotspur face a trip to Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon, aiming to rediscover some form in the Premier League.
Antonio Conte's men have fallen to defeat in their previous two Premier League outings, losing 2-0 to Manchester United and 2-1 to Newcastle, but will have to face the Cherries with limited attacking options.
Dejan Kulusevski has been absent since sustaining injury in a 6-2 victory over Leicester in mid-September and, while he is recovering, Conte confirmed he'd continue his spell on the sidelines this weekend.
The Swede will also be joined once again by summer arrival Richarlison, who has been out of action for a couple of weeks.
Asked about the shape of his squad for this weekend's trip to the south coast, Conte answered, "Nothing new; Richarlison and Kulusevski are still out."
And, despite being winless in three matches across all competitions, having been denied a dramatic Champions League victory over Sporting CP in midweek, Conte suggested he'd rest some key figures this weekend ahead of facing Marseille in a European 'final' next week.
“In the Champions League we want to have more games to play but there is a final on Tuesday and this is the difference between the game tomorrow in the Premier League and a game in the Champions League," the Spurs boss explained.
“In the Premier League you can have time to recover. In the Champions League, we are going to play a final. Also for this reason my decision has to be to make the best decision and to understand very well who are the players who are really tired because I don’t want to take a risk (against Bournemouth) as for us it is a final on Tuesday.”
Elsewhere, however, Conte confirmed that Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is now at '100%' so we should see the Dane continue in midfield, having only returned to the starting XI in midweek. Meanwhile, Harry Kane will certainly continue to lead the line with Conte's limited selection choices up front.
Source : 90min